Touch up by Mona Ryder, 1984-2022

This work is a carved and painted wooden ironing board 215 centimetres tall by 28 centimetres wide and 18 centimetres deep positioned 30 centimetres from the floor, the ironing board is folded down and hung flat suspended against the wall, which is painted black. This work is hung with the ironing board legs removed and on the right-hand side of another work from the same series entitled ‘Uncover.’ These works are part of a larger series produced between 1984 and 2022.

The piece is reminiscent of assemblage art where the sculpture is made by combining scavenged and found everyday objects to create the completed piece. Working from top to bottom, at the narrow end of the ironing board, is positioned a mask with cream skin tones and indistinguishable features, with the exception of red painted lips. A halo is created behind the head by first the incorporation of a large decorative deep blue metal serving plate with a gold floral design and behind it another platter but with an outline of curves like the outline of a flower. Protruding out from the sides of the ironing board, on either side of the mask are two bronzed pieces of steel bent at right angles jutting out at 2 o’clock and 11 o’clock as if on a clock face.

Moving down the ironing board is the focal point of the work, which is a carving. Two doors similar in style to those found at the entrance to a Gothic church or otherwise known as double or French doors are attached with hinges to the work and are shown open revealing a painted and carved scene within.

Each door is rectangular in shape before arching upwards to a point at their apex. It is said that the form of a pointed arch was used in Gothic cathedrals and architecture to symbolise one’s entrance to heaven. The doors are carved with the image of a barren tree with branches reaching skyward and exposed roots reaching down.

Two naked figures are found within. The larger figure at the back has one hand on the waist of a naked woman holding her close. The other arm of this figure is outstretched with the hand of this arm held up towards the right, both the forearm and the hand on this side are represented as branches of a fertile green tree. The woman he holds turns her head towards the middle of this figure while one arm is outstretched to the upper left with this hand forming the branches of a tree her other arm lowers down towards the right-hand corner and encloses a baby wrapped tightly in a burnt orange swaddling cloth with only its face exposed. The wood of the ironing board is marked with natural imperfections in the grain throughout. A single wooden crutch protrudes out from the base of the ironing board however the crossbar of the crutch cannot be seen, only its legs.

The juxtaposition of ambivalence and familiarity that exists in Ryder’s work, in both her themes and use of materials also presents in the audience interpretation of her work. She describes this as follows, “I always thought people would understand everything that I was putting in my work. People would come up to me and say, ‘I know exactly how you feel’ and tell me their story and it would have nothing to do with it… I think that is fascinating.”