Still from Mary Reid Kelley’s Camel Toe (2008).Courtesy of Marvelli Gallery, New York.
Artist Mary Reid Kelley Goes to War
“I am the lover of two women,†announces Mary Reid Kelley in her naughty, noirish video in which she plays a cartoony male WWI aviator. Kelley, as the pilot, recites a poem lamenting a present he gives his bride, a ballerina named Camel Toe. The gift is “bright and round — when you plug it in the wall, it makes a jolly buzzing sound.†Camel Toe takes it into the bathroom and is never heard from again. Kelley’s video is part of a group show about happiness at Marvelli Gallery through August 8. —Emma Pearse