Woman Made Gallery Presents 'Bag World'

Known for her powerful works that confront issues such as female empowerment and the war in Iraq, Croteau's current work on display at Woman Made Gallery asks viewers to question the role of the plastic bag in their lives by combining art historical satire with a plastic bag sensory experience. Works are up through June 21.

What does it sound like to walk on a floor covered in plastic bags? How would aesthetically pleasing works by artists such as Van Gogh, Matisse, Monet, and O'Keeffe be perceived if a single plastic bag became part of their composition?

Find the answers to these questions and more at Bag World, a solo exhibition and installation by Mary Ellen Croteau at Woman Made Gallery. Croteau's works simultaneously remind reviewers of the beautyof re-invented plastic bags and the ugliness of thoughtless garbage disposal.

Commenting on her new body of work, Chicago artist Mary Ellen Croteau states: "I was trying to think what to do with all those bags that you get every time you go to the store. Even if you bring your own bags, they still try to put the stuff in plastic bags before they put it in the ones you brought. And no matter what they tell you, these bags are not recycled. We are swimming in a sea of plastic. We are drowning in plastic. So take one big step for humankind: carry your own bags to the store."

Croteau, a native of Chicago, received her B.F.A. from the University of Illinois-Chicago and her M.F.A. from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Her work has been exhibited in Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., Zurich, Florence, and Seoul. -- www.womanmade.org

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