“FAUX RELIC: River Po Idyll”

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Comment by Resident Curator on April 8, 2023 at 9:17am

Curator’s Comments:

Welcome to the site! I am gladly pulled into these lavish Neo-Medieval fairytales. At first glance they look like illustrative book plates that might accompany a written storybook, and then they reveal themselves as opulent painterly objects that carry their own visual narratives.  The ornately carved frames on pieces such as Faux Relic: River Po Idyll transform the works into jeweled icons.  The thin gold rim on the edge of this swallow painting further enhances the sensation of viewing a precious artifact, carefully glazed with layers of oil. Sunset lighting gives the animal landscape a glowing, supernatural luster.  The murkiness of the violet shadows hint at darker elements within what might otherwise be a picturesque scene.  This shadowy edge, I believe, keeps the piece from reading as too sweet or idyllic. Like all good stories, there is darkness to challenge the light. Faux Relic: Moorish Courtesan employs a comparable framing treatment, but this figurative piece is more emotionally theatrical in subject.  The costuming and pose of the courtesan arguably herald Orientalist associations of the exotic within a contemporary figural framework. The woman looks beyond the viewers gaze, and reveals part of her breast as the dark roses of the border encroach upon her arched space. The large rose at the bottom right of the piece thus invokes the hidden second nipple. Similar visual echoes are seen throughout your works on the site.  I appreciate the text you’ve added to the works, and look forward to viewing them all on the site.