Feast of Love (#1, #2, and #3)
Silkscreen, Watercolor, and Embossed Ink
22" x 30"
2018
I wanted to convey love as a physical disease or parasite that eats us from the inside out. I chose to make the figure nude to communicate that love makes us vulnerable and there is a sense of nakedness when we are in love, opening our heart, personalities and history to another person; there is nothing to hide. When we feel love, infatuation, or excitement, we get "butterflies" in our stomach. I wanted to capture this idea that larvae are nesting inside our bodies, and when love stirs them up, they have no choice but to exit our bodies. Food tastes better, smells enhance, and the world becomes more colorful when we fall in love, which is why I wanted to draw focus to the mouth, nose and eyes with a black sludge running down uncontrollably. Our senses and emotions get so wild when love strikes us that we sometimes go mad, which is expressed with the frazzling of the hair and the darkening background, pushing toward the thought that love will completely obliterate our bodies. However, because love is so addicting, we continue to pick the flower petals questioning if "they love me" or "they love me not." We know what love does to us and our bodies, yet we still play its game that we always lose. This is why I embossed the flower petals because love leaves the fight without a scratch. Love is untouchable, unavoidable, and it always wins.