Janine Antoni

Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York

Acquired from the above in 1998 by the present owner

In Ingrown, Janine Antoni portrays her hands connected by red-lacquered nails she had glued together in order to create the illusion that the nails extend continuously from one finger to the same finger on the opposite hand. Executed in the year that Anotoni began breast cancer treatments, the artist conceptualized the hands as a metaphor to the entrapment she felt from her body attacking itself in the form of cancer. While at once a poignant reflection of a physical and mental battle the artist endured that year, the work also connects to a mainstay throughout her practice–the use of the body as a vehicle for meaning.