“SHE IS ROAMING A WORLD OF BALLOONS, ARMED WITH A PIN” (MAGGIE NELSON) I [sold]

These are the words the brilliant author and poet Maggie Nelson uses to describes the novelist Jane Bowles (author of Two Serious Ladies), in her book, The Art of Cruelty. The Art of Cruelty is an excellent read, as are Nelson’s other works. Two Serious Ladies was well ahead of its time, and is a bizarre little book that draws a reader into its incongruous characters and settings. This description has stuck with me for ages because of the immediate visual it conjures up, and its absolute pinpointing of a character type - someone who seeks to show things for what they are, to expose, or to reveal. We need those people.

36h x 24w x 1.5d (inches); acrylic and wax on wood-backed canvas