Baumgartner Gallery
522 West 24th Street, 212-242-4514
Chelsea
January 14 - February 15, 2006
Web Site
Megan Greene’s white-on-black drawings are reminiscent of X-rays, Victorian naturalist illustrations and images produced by electron microscopy. But the ornate specimens Greene depicts are hybrids of totemic and erotic imagination – part creature, part fetish. Braided hair, voluptuous fabric, feathers, and tribal necklaces are twisted and pulled taut by hard crustaceous arms, gelatinous membranes, and tentacles.
The work explores issues raised by cybernetics and bioengineering concerning the future of “nature” and of biological bodies. At the same time, it continues the tradition of vanitas painting, with its mix of delicately balanced elegance and the macabre.