"Woman in Leather Football Helmet" by E, Columbus, markers and fabric on paper

There is an Indian tribe known for creating meticulously crafted blankets. Each woven blanket contains such mind-boggling attention to detail, they’re nearly painful to observe. But woven into each and every one is a minor yet purposeful flaw; the tribe realize perfection is not attainable. So the flaw is built in, so to speak. It might be wise to expose up-and-coming realist, E, to some Indian culture. In her debut piece “Woman with Leather Football Helmet”, we witness a devotion to symmetry usually reserved for more concrete endeavors such as architecture or juggling. The orange woman (a subconscious nod to harmonious Indian culture perhaps?) is bracketed perfectly between mirroring patterns of hearts and flowers (reflected in the shapeless housedress no less); one sole flower protrudes from each orange oven mitt. All lovely to look at it but you get the sense that E is bottling it up, holding back. Even the sun is sheared into a nice, more controllable straight line. Why do we believe this artist has more to say? Ask yourself why this pleasant woman in the most pleasant of surroundings is wearing a leather football helmet. That’s the story we’d like to see unfold in E’s next work.