Selected works by Ruth Marten

In Ruth Marten's remarkable world, Pinnipeds and Quadrupeds must fight off the advances of hirsute Lotharios while foot fetishists with marcelled hair ride side-saddle with birds who collect rare editions of Une semaine de bonté. The statues wonder how long their underarm hair can grow. A nose huffs the upholstery when no one is looking. Conspirators of Pleasure, all of them. All of us.

Hirsute, ink on found print, 2007 (c) Ruth Marten

Tress, ink on found print, 2011 (c) Ruth Marten

Foot, ink on found print, 2011 (c) Ruth Marten

Arm, ink on found print, 2011 (c) Ruth Marten

Nose, ink on found print, 2011 (c) Ruth Marten

Ladies Goods, ink on found print, 2008 (c) Ruth Marten

Les Phoques, ink on found print, 2007 (c) Ruth Marten

Native Girl, ink on found print, 2007 (c) Ruth Marten

Side-Saddle, ink on found print, 2009 (c) Ruth Marten

Vapors, ink on found print, 2008 (c) Ruth Marten

Faustina, Moglie de..., ink on found print, 2007 (c) Ruth Marten

Propriety, ink on found print, 2009 (c) Ruth Marten

Zoophilia, ink on found print, 2007 (c) Ruth Marten

Gathering, ink on found print, 2009 (c) Ruth Marten

Clothilde, ink on paper, 1998 (c) Ruth Marten

The artist's bio

Born and living in N.Y., Ruth Marten has worn several hats, in spite of the hair. From 1972 to 1980 she was an important figure in the tattoo underground and, as one of the few women practicing the craft, influenced people's ideas about body decoration. Working during the disco and punk era, she also tattooed in the Musee D'Art Moderne de La Ville de Paris during the 10th Biennale de Paris in 1977.

Hired by Jean-Paul Goude for her first illustration (and for 30 years after) she illustrated books, albums and magazines and is most associated with the "Year in Provence" books of Peter Mayle, art-directed for A.A.Knopf by Carol Devine Carson. That love of the printed image informs her newest interest: changing, through over-drawing and collage, the configuration and content of 18th century engravings.

Her book "Histoire un-Naturelle," published for her 2007 London exhibit at Isis Gallery, is a catalogue of the work that came on the heels of a 17 year obsession with hair. Her drawing, painting and sculpture has been exhibited at the Aldrich Museum, the Tang Museum, the Halsey Institute, and is represented in many collections -- most recently in the de Young Museum in San Francisco.