January 22, 2004
Gallagher exhibit opens at Henry
Ellen Gallagher: Preserve/Murmur opened at the Henry Gallery last week, the first solo exhibition on the West coast by this young, influential African-American artist. The installation comprises three distinct bodies of work that the artist calls drawings, although they incorporate carving, cast and molded plastic, movie film and projectors, Wite-Out, plasticine, pomade, and stick-on toy eyes, as well as media more traditionally associated with drawing, such as black ink, watercolor, and graphite.
Murmur (2003) is a set of five animated films, each image hand-drawn or collaged or manipulated and shot by the artist. The ethereal large-scale drawings from the Watery Ecstatic series (2002-2004) include passages literally carved into the thick watercolor paper, along with thin watercolor and other applied pigment. In a group of 20 works on paper entitled Preserve, Gallagher mutates wig advertisements from Ebony, Black Digest, and other mid-century African American magazines, highlighting the covert racism that fueled the market for products like wigs and skin lighteners.
Preserve/Murmur is on display through April 18. Admission is always free at the Henry for faculty, staff and students.
