Gabrielle Mayer paints full-size images of women’s dresses, an exploration of the impact clothing and style have on our culture. Typically rendered in a highly illusionistic manner, the dresses appear inhabited, though beyond the volumetric forms of the cloth there is no indication of the figure, leaving the dress to fill the role of the protagonist.
The title, Anubus, may refer to Anubis, the Egyptian god of mummification and the afterlife. Anubis is depicted as a jackal-headed god, a resemblance found in the profile of the dress.
Mayer received her MFA from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, and her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. She currently teaches at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Anubus was acquired from the Midwest-region juried exhibition Century 2: New Glass and Paintings, organized by the Muskegon Museum of Art in 2001.