Wish-Whish-Whisk

Currently not on view

Wish-Whish-Whisk

2004

Ellen Gallagher (American, born 1965)

Ellen Gallagher's work confronts issues of racial identity by transforming racist imagery, through multiplication and disjunction, into elegant abstract elements. She is best known for two major groups of works, known as the Ebony series, with grid arrangements of "wig ladies" based upon advertisements from black culture magazines, and the Watery Ecstatic series of images of sea life, specifically the eel-a mysterious bottom-feeding fish that lives in dark, muddy waters. Wish-Whish-Whisk is a six-part mixed-media piece juxtaposing elements from the two series. According to Gallagher, it is "the idea of disembodiment or invasion from the inside out, this kind of captivity" that links them.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

Wish-Whish-Whisk

Date:

2004

Artist:

Ellen Gallagher (American, born 1965)

Medium:

Collage of cut wove paper, with watercolor, plasticine and selectively applied gloss medium

Dimensions:

Sheet: 22 x 30 inches (55.9 x 76.2 cm)

Classification:

Drawings

Credit Line:

Purchased with the Marion Stroud Fund for Contemporary Art on Paper and the Hunt Corporation (formerly Hunt Manufacturing Co.) Arts Collection Program, 2004

Accession Number:

2004-92-1a

Geography:

Probably made in United States, North and Central America

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Currently not on view