A painter whose images are executed in realist style and then arranged in ways that whose effects could rightly be described as surrealistic, allegorical, satirical, and humorous, Nicole Eisenman is known for her huge, vividly colored canvases as well as collages, drawings, found-object assemblages, and murals.

One of her paintings, Progress: Real and Imagined, completed in 2006, measures 8 by 30 feet, and with a WPA-like title has so many vignettes of people and their lives that the effect is dizzying, 'Hogarthian' or as one critic wrote, "dyke punk". The latter description reflects a theme in her own life, which is lesbian motherhood, but not all of her motives carry personal messages nor it is necessary to un...