I was at Dolphin Gallery last week and noticed a card for Ellen Greene's work which had been at Birdie's. Greene collects vintage gloves and uses them as her canvas. Seeing gloves as a symbol of a past ideal of femininity, of protection and restraint, she marries them with images of tattoos, the art of which is rooted in a male tradition. I did have my eyelids done and while I'm happy with the results, I can't quite shake the niggling feeling that I have capitulated to two forces: personal vanity and some sort of larger mystical pressure that stresses physical beauty as ideal. I'm not torturing myself over it (in fact, I bought eye shadow for the first time in years) but it's bugging me. Greene's pieces hit me when I may be most vulnerable to them. You can find them here.
Image, "Omi Wise" via artbyellengreene.com.
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