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.