A Work of Artifice

Acrylic, gouache, and watercolour pencil and red thread on reclaimed cotton drop cloth and reclaimed frame
55 x 31.5 in | 2026

A Work of Artifice is part of the Moulting series. 

Painted on reclaimed studio drop cloth, the work draws from a vintage Maidenform advertisement from a campaign that presented women for the male gaze while selling that gaze back to women. Using the advertisement as a reference, I painted its female figure and advertising language into the canvas. 

Marge Piercy's poem A Work of Artifice also appears within the painting. In the poem, a bonsai tree that might have grown eighty feet tall is instead pruned and contained, becoming a metaphor for the ways women are shaped and diminished to fit inherited expectations. I bring Piercy's metaphor into the conversation with the Maidenform figure, painting the bonsai tree across the woman's body.

Disruptive strokes, gestures and marks move across the carefully constructed image of femininity. Red thread weaves in and out of the surface, while fragments of Piercy's poem emerge through accumulating layers. The painting is held within a reclaimed ornate frame, extending its exploration of containment and the inherited ideas of what a woman should be.

Click the image for a closer look.

Available by inquiry

If this work resonates with you, I would be delighted to hear from you.