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Meadow
Vargas Suite
, 1992
Silk screen, fabric
36"
x 36" x 4"
The female figures blazoned onto the pillows of
Vargas
Suite
are based on Alberto Vargas’
American Girls
,
which
appeared in Esquire and Playboy magazines during the
1940
s. Idealized, unattainable, and devastatingly sexy,
these figures shaped a generation’s perception of the
“
perfect woman.” Bedroom pillows, with their obvious
sexual connotations, are the perfect medium through
which to observe and comment on this phenomenon of
“
perfecting” and sexualizing womankind. The artist em-
ploys this erotic subject matter with neither acceptance
nor indictment, using her private poetry to counterpoint
these popular images of sensuality.
Richard McBee
Jacob and the Angel
, 2003
Acrylic, canvas
20"
x 20"
Genesis
32:22-32
describes how Jacob, on the
night before he is to meet his estranged brother
Esau, slept alone, across the river from his fam-
ily, and there he is accosted by an anonymous
man. Though he prevails, Jacob’s left hip is
injured, maiming him. While the exact identity
of the man is never revealed, context suggests
that Jacob’s attacker was an angel. The artist
adheres to the traditional belief that Jacob
wrestled or argued with the angel. Others
believe that Jacob was sexually assaulted, and
it is this scenario that McBee chooses to depict.
The frightening scene depicts the horror and
helplessness of an assault.
