Available
Pavonia
2021
This mixed media work was inspired by the eyes of the model for "Pavonia", an 1859 oil painting by the British artist Frederic Leighton. While the model appears pallid in the original, her eyes convey strength and determination transcending the compliance expected of women at the time. Wondering what she would have looked like had she been painted more vibrantly,
I digitally manipulated a photograph of the painting, creating this assemblage around it but maintaining her eyes as the focus. The modified "painting" hangs in a room covered with yellow floral wallpaper. The wallpaper is a nod to the Japanese influence so prevalent in British art and design at the time of the painting. The modified photograph maintains some of the original’s peacock feather fan but otherwise replaces the original background with the wallpaper in this scene to make it seem as though the portrait had been painted in that room.
A miniature half-moon table up against the mirror creates a false sense of depth and form. The velvet base echoes the green and floral theme throughout and counterbalances the sharp edges in the mirror and frame above it.
Hanging to the left is a portion of a necklace I designed with semiprecious stones, Murano glass and freshwater pearls, a design that has always reminded me of spring. Orange clay roses appearing in the green vase on the table have also been entwined in the necklace along with a few clay irises painted to match the irises in the wallpaper. The green of the feathers in the photograph is repeated in the green vase, the leaves of the flowers and some of the pearls used in the necklace. The feather above the picture is a nod to the peacock feathers in the original work and highlights the model’s dark hair.
Custom framed with museum glass in a sophisticated deep wooden frame in collaboration with Chevy Chase Art Gallery, Washington, DC.
Price: USD 2,500.
Frame color: Gold
Size (in inches): 12.75 x 9.75 x 4