Artworks

DeLuxe, 2004-2005

  • Artist

    Ellen Gallagher

  • Title

    DeLuxe

  • Date

    2004-2005

  • Medium

    Grid of sixty photogravure, etching, aquatint and drypoints with lithography, screenprint, embossing, tattoo-machine engraving, laser cutting and chine collé; some with additions of Plasticine, paper collage, enamel, varnish, gouache, pencil, oil, polymer, watercolor, pomade, velvet, glitter, crystals, foil paper, gold leaf, toy eyeballs and imitation ice cubes Previously: Portfolio of 60 etchings with photogravure, spitbite, collage, laser cutting, silkscreen, offset lithography, hand painting, and plasticine sculptural additions

  • Dimensions

    Each: 13 × 10 1/2 in. (33 × 26.7 cm) Overall: 86 × 179 in. (218.4 × 454.7 cm)

  • Edition

    ed. 7/20

  • Credit line

    The Studio Museum in Harlem; Museum purchase made possible by a gift from Thomas H. Lee and Ann Tenenbaum, New York

  • Object Number

    2005.8a–hhh

This grid features sixty images from print sources the artist modified and mutated with a range of materials and artistic techniques. Primarily consisting of mid-twentieth century advertisements for Black hair and skin products, the work emphasizes the importance of hair to Black self-fashioning and cultural identity. The grid explores the expressive potential of wigs, freeing them from the confines of their original contexts and allowing them to take on new forms. In doing so, Gallagher counters the homogenizing Eurocentric standards put forth by advertisements for skin whitening or hair straightening products with a jolt of originality.


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Artworks

DeLuxe, 2004-2005

  • Artist

    Ellen Gallagher

  • Title

    DeLuxe

  • Date

    2004-2005

  • Medium

    Grid of sixty photogravure, etching, aquatint and drypoints with lithography, screenprint, embossing, tattoo-machine engraving, laser cutting and chine collé; some with additions of Plasticine, paper collage, enamel, varnish, gouache, pencil, oil, polymer, watercolor, pomade, velvet, glitter, crystals, foil paper, gold leaf, toy eyeballs and imitation ice cubes Previously: Portfolio of 60 etchings with photogravure, spitbite, collage, laser cutting, silkscreen, offset lithography, hand painting, and plasticine sculptural additions

  • Dimensions

    Each: 13 × 10 1/2 in. (33 × 26.7 cm) Overall: 86 × 179 in. (218.4 × 454.7 cm)

  • Edition

    ed. 7/20

  • Credit line

    The Studio Museum in Harlem; Museum purchase made possible by a gift from Thomas H. Lee and Ann Tenenbaum, New York

  • Object Number

    2005.8a–hhh

This grid features sixty images from print sources the artist modified and mutated with a range of materials and artistic techniques. Primarily consisting of mid-twentieth century advertisements for Black hair and skin products, the work emphasizes the importance of hair to Black self-fashioning and cultural identity. The grid explores the expressive potential of wigs, freeing them from the confines of their original contexts and allowing them to take on new forms. In doing so, Gallagher counters the homogenizing Eurocentric standards put forth by advertisements for skin whitening or hair straightening products with a jolt of originality.


Explore further