Maternal Instincts
1974 Enamel on celastic and lightbulbs
This work is the only one in which Ree refers directly to her children. Their initials (L, S and S) are illuminated by lightbulbs.
In the first public installation of this work, Ree combined it with polaroids, presumably family snapshots. She showed it in the group exhibition Artists Make Toys, held in 1975 at the Clocktower Gallery (predecessor of PS1, part of the Museum of Modern Art in New York). The polaroids reinforce the sentimental nature of the work.