Once, during the Reagan administration, when Barbara Bush turned
up for a luncheon in the First Lady's trademark color, Mrs. Reagan
shrieked, "Never wear red again as long as I live in this house!"
--Anne Slowey, Elle, quoting Lesley Stahl's book Reporting Live

Every recent First Lady with the notable exception of Barbara Bush
leaves office thinner and more glamorous than when she arrived.
The process is as inevitable as it is painful. Only Barbara Bush dared
to capitalize on her grandmotherly image, and the public loved her for
it. Laura's transition may not be so easily accomplished. The purple
plaid suit that she wore to her first meeting with Hillary Clinton was
roundly ridiculed."
--Eleanor Clift, "Laura and Her Creation," Georgetowner, January 25, 2001

Andrea Higgins makes paintings that are magnifications of fabric swatches.
Moire, herringbone, houndstooth or plaid -- each fiber is represented by a
layering of brushstrokes. The repetition of marks, like weaving of threads,
creates patterns that are both minimal and dynamic. The paintings are
elegant abstractions, yet each familiar fabric carries associations for the
individual viewer.

Higgins' current body of work focuses on the wardrobes of American
Presidents' wives. The clothes these women wear, she postulates, reflect
the social climate and political priorities of the administration of which they
are a part.

Jacqueline Kennedy utilized her wardrobe to craft an image of glamour
and elegance for the Kennedy White House. She recognized that solid
colors photograph better than prints, and chose her wardrobe for the
powerful new medium of television. Carl Sferrazza Anthony, biographer
of first ladies, wrote that Jackie became a "symbol of the liberation from
the notion that America had to be bourgeois."

Nancy Reagan was determined to return a sense of style and formality to
the presidency, which she believed had been neglected during the Carter
administration. Commentators saw her expensive and flamboyant clothes
as a reflection of the ebullient 1980's "Trickle-down Economics."

Higgins' paintings uncannily represent the women and politics of the presi-
dential term they reference. "Laura" is the rendering of a purple suit worn
by Laura Bush as she was welcomed to the White House by Hillary Rodham
Clinton (wearing a signature black pantsuit). Higgins found a photograph
of the women shaking hands. The caption reads, "After 2 terms in the
White House, Hillary Clinton's black power suit is surrendering to Laura
Bush's colorful tweeds".



To our eyes, which are trained to spot the faces of powerful men and women
in a roomful of black and grey suits, Mrs. Bush's patterned outfits look like
castoffs from the wardrobe of Queen Elizabeth II.

(T)here is a sort of humility and innocence in Mrs. Bush's style that
tends to ward off harsh criticism. Unlike Nancy Reagan's wardrobe, her
clothes are not screaming for attention. Nor does her dowdiness cry out
with moral righteousness, as was the case when Rosalyn Carter pulled an
old dress out of her closet for her husband's inaugural ball.

I'm beginning to think that the Bush style -- exemplified by the new first
lady's dowdy wardrobe -- is perhaps appropriate to our times. It is the
fashion equivalent of political centrism. It satisfies a growing nostalgia for
a simpler time in American life."
-- Sara Fritz, "A Style of Dress and Politics,"
St. Petersburg Times, January 15, 2001.

Roland Flexner -- French-born, now living in New York -- creates drawings
by breath rather than by hand. Mixing ink and soap in a shallow dish, the
artist dips a hollowed brush into the mixture and blows a bubble over a
sheet of paper. While chance and physics play a definitive role, the artist
has perfected his control over a number of variables, including the modu-
lation of breath. This "vocal gesture" informs the shape of the bubble and
the distribution of ink as it bursts.

In this series of drawings, the bubble covers most if not all of the paper,
giving them an unearthly landscape quality. The drawings contain multiple
readings, from strange, distant planets to microscopic life forms. Their
effect is astonishing and mesmerizing.