Throwback Thursday In 2002, The Drawing Center exhibited "Ellen Gallagher: Preserve" introducing a new series of mixed-media drawings taken from advertisements in mid-century black culture magazines. The exhibition also featured the artist's first sculptural project: a three-dimensional jungle gym construction. "Ellen Gallagher: Preserve" originated at the Des Moines Art Center and was organized by Jeff Fleming. Art21 writes on Gallagher: “ Repetition and revision are central to Gallagher’s treatment of advertisements that she appropriates from popular magazines like "Ebony," "Our World," and "Sepia" and uses in works like "eXelento" (2004) and "DeLuxe" (2004–05). Initially, Gallagher was drawn to the wig advertisements because of their grid-like structure. Later, she realized that it was the accompanying language that attracted her, and she began to bring these “narratives” into her paintings—making them function through the characters of the advertisements, as a kind of chart of lo...