J. Mackey Gallery in East Hampton presents “Beyond Your Glittering Eyes,” a solo exhibition of works by artist Ellen Ball. In this timely exhibition, she employs large-scale mixed-media paintings to explore the tension between women’s empowerment and entrapment by beauty standards and conventional expectations. With an emphasis on iconic forms distilled to their abstract minimal shapes, lines, and contours, her work has been described as “highly textural, ripe with visual tension and questions of interpretation.”
Utilizing a self-discovered process, Ball works with found imagery, which she reinterprets by layering paint, papers, textiles, and unexpected mediums to create a new and unique composition. “Deliberate juxtapositions and purposefully degraded imagery prompt questions about beauty, perfection, and issues surrounding contemporary icon ‘worship,’ devotional imagery, and the pressures put on 21st-century women,” she states.
Ball’s work is influenced by contemporary artists such as Marilyn Minter, Mickalene Thomas, Christopher Wool, and Elizabeth Peyton, with echoes of Warhol, Matisse, Botticelli, and the gold ground paintings of the early Renaissance.
A significant collaboration with legendary rock photographer Mick Rock allowed Ball to create “Once I Had A Love,” also featured in the show. Often referred to as “The Man Who Shot the Seventies,” Rock shot over 100 album covers and is known for images of legendary rock icons such as Syd Barrett, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Queen, the Sex Pistols, The Ramones, and Blondie. After familiarizing herself with his vast archives, Ball chose the fierce Debbie Harry from Blondie to make a new work, which connected to her themes of strong women, and rock ‘n’ roll icons.