excess, desire, denial and a really cute kitty

From iona's show that opens at Sandroni.Rey in Los Angeles on Saturday. The show is called the epidemic of excess, the detriment of denial.

iona explores society's obsession with material consumption, vanity, and greed as well as the exchange between different cultures and personal identity. brown's figured attempt to make up for their perceived inadequacies by donning fake hair and elaborate clothing. The material excess represented in these new pieces obscures ad dilutes the identities of the individual figured themselves. What were cultural stylistic identity markers have become exaggerated adornments and products to be consumed and desired.

This body of work speaks directly to me! When I was in NY last month, I met up with some gallery folks for dinner. On the way to dinner, they suggested we stop in at the Marc Jacobs store in the Village. Sure, why not. I don't have a thing for Marc Jacobs. I was just humoring them. But then I walked in and got a whiff of young, fashionable, good looking people making purchases and I wanted to be one of them. PLUS, there was a 40% shoe sale going on. Shoe boxes were piled up everywhere and chicks were frantically looking for their sizes and checking out what everyone else was wearing. I got caught up in the excitement and bought a pair of shoes that, though fabulous and discounted, were much too expensive. Haven't even worn them yet.

Note the extremely cute fluffy, gray cat in this particular painting! Do you think Ralphie may have influenced her work in any way?