by Ellen von Unwerth
Pink Poodle, London, 2012
Artist: Ellen von Unwerth
Shot in London in 2012, this colour photograph reclines Meghan Wiggins across a gold quilted bed in a pink lace bodysuit and rope-tied heels, swathed in billowing pink tulle, an enormous candyfloss wig of apricot curls framing a heavily made-up face. Von Unwerth floods the whole frame with saturated rose light against the dark headboard, the netting piled around the figure like spun sugar. The look is pure hyper-feminine excess, deliberately artificial and theatrical.
Read as fine art, the picture pushes girlhood glamour to a knowing, almost surreal extreme, the poodle of the title nodding at a groomed, confected femininity worn like costume. The theme is artifice as armour, prettiness cranked so high it becomes provocation, the subject sultry and self-aware rather than sweet, entirely in charge of the fantasy she inhabits. Von Unwerth’s signature is exactly this saturated theatre, staging excess with a wink while her subject commands the scene. The work suits a bold, characterful interior that can carry its width and its colour, and speaks to collectors drawn to fashion photography’s crossover into fine art. Ellen von Unwerth’s photographs are issued as limited editions, each print part of a controlled run.
Size: medium
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