Cherries are unmistakably feminine and sexual—female sexuality having long been appropriated and perverted to “sell” just about anything. As a woman artist, it was import for me to take back these metaphors and proudly use them to my advantage. The paintings in this gallery represent a sample of work that spanned several years and used the metaphor of the cherry to tell various stories.
The subject matter of cherries began as an exercise in taking something ostensibly mundane and transforming it—elevating its status and glorifying it. Cherries, with their rich colors and sensual forms, are playfully alluring. In the beginning I saw them as stand-ins for objects. I was interested in the curious idea of fetishism—the displacement of desire and attachment onto alternative objects (EG: A shoe fetish). Absurd as it is, it is a phenomenon that affects everyone on some level. My paintings began mocking this idea, as I explored concepts of spectacle and façade. Media is the language of the spectacle, isolating the people that live within it and disconnecting us from our existence. It becomes difficult to know what is true and what is not. Truth then becomes mediated through the system, making us reliant on what others tell us.
The Spectacle erases the dividing line between self and world, in that the self, under siege by the presence/ absence of the world, is eventually overwhelmed; it likewise erases the dividing line between true and false, repressing all directly lived truth beneath the real presence of the falsehood maintained by the organization of appearances. (Guy Debord, “Society of the Spectacle”).
As the cherries in my work evolved and changes in my personal life began informing my work in different ways, I was forced to reevaluate my reasons for painting this subject. Becoming a mother and being (temporarily) diagnosed with depression, led me to see my own work as being more and more about identity and relationships. I continued to use these fruits because they were so familiar and dear to me. The mundane became the personal and through it I wished to explore dichotomies of isolation and togetherness, sadness and elation, desire and disgust. The mood of each composition is developed through various dispositions and how they relate to each other, to their environment, and to the viewer. Although my work is born from personal experience, I hope to appeal to more pervasive aspects of the human condition.
It is yet unknown to me whether or not the cherry has fulfilled its role in my work. Motherhood has led me on an extended sabbatical from painting, and I do not yet know what function the cherry might have when I return to my easel once again.
The subject matter of cherries began as an exercise in taking something ostensibly mundane and transforming it—elevating its status and glorifying it. Cherries, with their rich colors and sensual forms, are playfully alluring. In the beginning I saw them as stand-ins for objects. I was interested in the curious idea of fetishism—the displacement of desire and attachment onto alternative objects (EG: A shoe fetish). Absurd as it is, it is a phenomenon that affects everyone on some level. My paintings began mocking this idea, as I explored concepts of spectacle and façade. Media is the language of the spectacle, isolating the people that live within it and disconnecting us from our existence. It becomes difficult to know what is true and what is not. Truth then becomes mediated through the system, making us reliant on what others tell us.
The Spectacle erases the dividing line between self and world, in that the self, under siege by the presence/ absence of the world, is eventually overwhelmed; it likewise erases the dividing line between true and false, repressing all directly lived truth beneath the real presence of the falsehood maintained by the organization of appearances. (Guy Debord, “Society of the Spectacle”).
As the cherries in my work evolved and changes in my personal life began informing my work in different ways, I was forced to reevaluate my reasons for painting this subject. Becoming a mother and being (temporarily) diagnosed with depression, led me to see my own work as being more and more about identity and relationships. I continued to use these fruits because they were so familiar and dear to me. The mundane became the personal and through it I wished to explore dichotomies of isolation and togetherness, sadness and elation, desire and disgust. The mood of each composition is developed through various dispositions and how they relate to each other, to their environment, and to the viewer. Although my work is born from personal experience, I hope to appeal to more pervasive aspects of the human condition.
It is yet unknown to me whether or not the cherry has fulfilled its role in my work. Motherhood has led me on an extended sabbatical from painting, and I do not yet know what function the cherry might have when I return to my easel once again.