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1940’s pin-up girls and paper dolls are central icons in Jane Maxwell’s riveting collage, which examines women, body image and the feminine ideal. Her work, rich with layer and texture, deftly deconstructs each sensual silhouette, replacing rosy cheeks and sexy skivvies with imagery from vintage fruit and vegetable crate labels – extolling the virtues of produce. This food imagery, ripe with color and text, both surrounds and becomes the figure – calling into question a culture where women are dominated by food issues, and toys with the age-old notion of women being objectified as fruit. ‘Nice melons, peach!’

Jane’s work offers a juxtaposition of women in conversation, comparison or repetition, underscoring the role that female camaraderie and competition play in the ideal body quest; and making a statement about our culture’s insistence on uniformity. Each canvas is worked on for many, many hours – layering, sanding, building-up, peeling back and utilizing a special method of overlaying imagery with melted beeswax. She reveals and obscures to pull the viewer into a meaningful encounter with the work.

Exhibitions: 2008 - Solo Show: March 2008 Hubert Gallery New York, NY; Solo Show: June 2008 Campton Gallery New York, NY; Caldwell Snyder Gallery San Francisco, CA; Trajan Gallery, Carmel, CA; Galerie Geraldine Zberro, Paris. 2007 - Heidi Cho Gallery New York, NY; Susan Maasch Fine Art Portland, ME; New England Art Institute Gallery, "S, M, L, XL" [Solo Show] Brookline, MA. 2006 - Judi Rotenberg Gallery, "Made In America" Boston, MA; Oylan Gallery [Solo Show] Cambridge, MA; Carney Gallery at Regis College [Solo Show] Weston, MA; Nave Gallery, "Serious Fun: Whimsical Art by Fine Artists" Somerville, MA; One Way Gallery, Featured Artist Narragansett, RI; Woman Made Gallery, "Her Mark" Chicago, IL: Attleboro Arts Museum, "Small Works National Juried Art Exhibition"; Juror's Choice Award Attleboro, MA; Fiber Art Center, "Fiber and the Book Artist" Amherst, MA; Cambridge Art Association, "Blue" Cambridge, MA. 2005 - Clark Gallery, "Director's Choice" Lincoln, Ma; Cushing-Martin Gallery, "Communicating Through Collage"; Stonehill College Easton, MA. 2004 - Mario Russo Salon, Louis Boston [Solo Show] Boston, MA; New Art Center, "Icons and Alters" Newton, MA BAAK Gallery, "Women Spring into Life" Cambridge, MA. 2003 - DK Project Art, "Inner Selections"; South End Artists Open Studios Boston, MA; New Art Center, "Icons and Alters" Newton, MA. 2002 - Holzwasser Gallery, New Art Center Newton, MA; The Somerville Museum, "Persona" Somerville, MA; Cambridge Art Association, "Hot Colors" Cambridge, MA; New Art Center, "Icons and Alters" Newton, MA. 2001 - The Stage Gallery, "Face to Face" Merrick, NY. Cambridge Art Association, "Red" Cambridge, MA. 2000 - ArtWorks!, "Rhymes & Rhythms" New Bedford, MA; Period Art Gallery, "International Show" Omaha, NE Newburyport Art Association, "Annual Juried Show" Mixed Media Prize Newburyport, MA