Pig study by Emma Herbin,
from exhibition Cerdo at the Borges Centre in Buneos Aires
Dear Lucy,
Long time hey?!
How are you m'lovely? ....well and happy and creating I hope :-)
This piggy-image is by Emma Herbin from her exhibition Cerdo (pig) at the Borges Centre in Buenos Aires. Her work so reminded me of your animal studies and sculptures from school Lucy, that I had the strong urge to get in touch and say hi (and send you a link to Herbin's work in case you don't already know it, though I imagine you probably do!)
In these days of debate and critique of capitalist and consumerist society, it seems impossible to separate the image of a pig from greed. But rather than use pig imagery predictably (there was only one satirical 'comic strip' image of a pig in suit) Herbin's multiple pig studies seem to really look at the animal, to look at it thoroughly, over and over again and from all angles, so many times that in some of her large scale drawings the animal forms seem to blend into landscapes. Maybe Herbin is inviting us to try to re-see the natural creature of the pig?
I particularly liked the pig-on-a-lead in the bottom right hand corner of this image above. The pair of hands holding the lead are the only trace of human body in Herbin's studies, and in the positioning of the one hand securing the wrist of the other that holds the lead, it appears that the unseen person is guarding against a tug from the pig who seems on the brink of thrusting towards something unseen that it has its eye on. For me this image triggered a train of thoughts about our 'inner pig' and our attempts to control our greed... but now I wonder, if the animal were a wolf, would I rather interpret it as a commentary of societal leashing of our positive inner animal instincts?
Hmm.. I wonder what your thoughts would be Lucy?
Anyways, sending a big hug and lots of love from South America,
and best wishes for all your current projects and adventures.
:-)
No comments:
Post a Comment