Ruth Marten: Side-Saddle

Ruth Marten draws on antique etchings. Literally. The etchings, often of scientific subjects, are likely to be of dubious accuracy. Marten’s masterful interventions further propel the imagery toward the fantastic, though where one leaves off and the other begins is not easy to discern. Like a child’s game of “telephone,” or the Surrealists’ “exquisite corpse,” the process yields delightful perversity.

The title of this show, Side-Saddle, refers to something unconventional, more difficult and requiring superior skills. The work exudes an element of the archaic, and an undercurrent of naughtiness.