Ellen Gallagher
DeLuxe, 2004/2005 (Installation at the Whitney Museum of American Art)
A portfolio of 60 printed objects with aquatint, dry-point, photogravure, spit-bite, lithography, silkscreen, embossing, tattoo machine engraving, laser-cutting, collage, crystals, cut paper, enamel, glitter, gold leaf, gouache, graphite, oil, plasticine, polymer medium, pomade, toy eyeballs, watercolor, velvet
Each piece measures approximately 13 x 10.5 inches and is to be hung in a grid 5 high by 12 across. The full grid with frames measures 84.75 x 176 inches
Edition of 20
DeLuxe (American Beauty detail), 2004/2005
A portfolio of 60 printed objects with aquatint, dry-point, photogravure, spit-bite, lithography, silkscreen, embossing, tattoo machine engraving, laser-cutting, collage, crystals, cut paper, enamel, glitter, gold leaf, gouache, graphite, oil, plasticine, polymer medium, pomade, toy eyeballs, watercolor, velvet
Each piece measures approximately 13 x 10.5 inches and is to be hung in a grid 5 high by 12 across. The full grid with frames measures 84.75 x 176 inches
Edition of 20
DeLuxe (Bad Skins detail), 2004/2005
A portfolio of 60 printed objects with aquatint, dry-point, photogravure, spit-bite, lithography, silkscreen, embossing, tattoo machine engraving, laser-cutting, collage, crystals, cut paper, enamel, glitter, gold leaf, gouache, graphite, oil, plasticine, polymer medium, pomade, toy eyeballs, watercolor, velvet
Each piece measures approximately 13 x 10.5 inches and is to be hung in a grid 5 high by 12 across. The full grid with frames measures 84.75 x 176 inches
Edition of 20
DeLuxe (FBI detail), 2004/2005
A portfolio of 60 printed objects with aquatint, dry-point, photogravure, spit-bite, lithography, silkscreen, embossing, tattoo machine engraving, laser-cutting, collage, crystals, cut paper, enamel, glitter, gold leaf, gouache, graphite, oil, plasticine, polymer medium, pomade, toy eyeballs, watercolor, velvet
Each piece measures approximately 13 x 10.5 inches and is to be hung in a grid 5 high by 12 across. The full grid with frames measures 84.75 x 176 inches
Edition of 20
DeLuxe (Millie Christine detail), 2004/2005
A portfolio of 60 printed objects with aquatint, dry-point, photogravure, spit-bite, lithography, silkscreen, embossing, tattoo machine engraving, laser-cutting, collage, crystals, cut paper, enamel, glitter, gold leaf, gouache, graphite, oil, plasticine, polymer medium, pomade, toy eyeballs, watercolor, velvet
Each piece measures approximately 13 x 10.5 inches and is to be hung in a grid 5 high by 12 across. The full grid with frames measures 84.75 x 176 inches
Edition of 20
DeLuxe (Skinnatural detail), 2004/2005
A portfolio of 60 printed objects with aquatint, dry-point, photogravure, spit-bite, lithography, silkscreen, embossing, tattoo machine engraving, laser-cutting, collage, crystals, cut paper, enamel, glitter, gold leaf, gouache, graphite, oil, plasticine, polymer medium, pomade, toy eyeballs, watercolor, velvet
Each piece measures approximately 13 x 10.5 inches and is to be hung in a grid 5 high by 12 across. The full grid with frames measures 84.75 x 176 inches
Edition of 20
DeLuxe (Wiglette detail), 2004/2005
A portfolio of 60 printed objects with aquatint, dry-point, photogravure, spit-bite, lithography, silkscreen, embossing, tattoo machine engraving, laser-cutting, collage, crystals, cut paper, enamel, glitter, gold leaf, gouache, graphite, oil, plasticine, polymer medium, pomade, toy eyeballs, watercolor, velvet
Each piece measures approximately 13 x 10.5 inches and is to be hung in a grid 5 high by 12 across. The full grid with frames measures 84.75 x 176 inches
Edition of 20
Ellen Gallagher's DeLuxe consists of 60 framed prints hung in a rectangular grid of five rows of twelve. The points of departure for each print are magazine advertisements from the 1930s to the 1970s aimed at Black consumers, drawn from the artist's own collection of publications such as Ebony, Our World, and Sepia. These advertisements promise a range of personal improvements through products such as hair pomades, wigs, slimming aids, and skin treatments, and play on the reader's desire for transformation through physical enhancement. The advertisements, printed mostly with traditional printmaking techniques such as etching and lithography, are transformed by the artist through the additions of laser cuts, tattoo machine engraving, embossing, and collaging with materials such as plasticine, pomade, toy eyeballs, crystals, cut paper, glitter, velvet, and gold leaf, just to name a few. Gallagher's additions to the original advertisements often obscure the model's faces or give them extravagant new hairstyles, emphasizing the complexities surrounding the construction of identity, specifically in relation to race and gender.
One of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken at Two Palms, DeLuxe required a team of eight people, 4 years of production, and more than 100 copper plates. It can be found in the collections of institutions around the world, and can currently be seen in the new permanent collection galleries of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Broad Museum in Los Angeles, and the Tate Modern in London.