| About the Artist: |
Intrigued by the idea of transformation, I asked myself, "Where is the stem from which our animal instincts grow?" I translated an old poem by Jean de La Fontaine, a 17th century poet who wrote for the court of the Sun King of France. the poem, "La cigale et la fourmi" follows:
The Ant and the Grasshopper
Grasshopper sang all summer long
Instead of toil, a song.
When the winter wind began to blow
She had no stash of worm or fly to show.
She went to beg a little seed
'Til Spring to soothe her need
From neighbor ant.
"Pay you back, I can't
'Til Fall, upon my word as animal
All interest and principal."
As for Ant to lend is scarce her sin.
"What were you doing all summer long?"
"You heard my song Night and day - I saw your glance."
"You were singing. Now get on with it. Dance.
De La Fontaine uses the insects to personify certain types of human nature. In the European tradition of duality he contrasts traits - in this case profligacy and parsimony. It is an either/or proposition that he sees, comments upon and presents to us in this poignant poem. My response to the poem is to show the insects, female in gendered French, half-transformed in intense, layered color fields. I envision a world around them populated with different figures embodying character traits. Of all literary sources, the animal story has intrigued me most. The whimsical hides the seriousness of the message. |
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