Pomegranate 2020

Editor: We’re looking at “Pomegranate,” an acrylic on canvas painting from 2020 by Allison Reimold. The figure is so striking, almost unsettling with this melting quality. I’m curious, what resonates with you when you look at this piece? Curator: Well, immediately my mind jumps to the pomegranate itself. Consider its weight throughout art history – think of Botticelli's Madonnas, for instance. Often it symbolizes fertility, abundance, even resurrection. Do you see that connection with the figure presented here? Editor: I can see that. There's something about the pomegranate being so prominently featured alongside the figure, it does make you consider those themes. What about the, dare I say, "melting" quality of the figure? Does that have symbolic weight, too? Curator: Precisely. The melting effect combined with that striking gaze… think of the Ovid’s Metamorphoses, or Daphne turning into a laurel tree. Isn't there a similar idea here? Transformation, fluidity of identity…perhaps a resistance to a fixed state of being? What feeling does the rendering of the figure evoke? Editor: That makes sense. It feels almost like she is shedding something, changing right before our eyes, a new state emerging from a prior version. The cherry blossoms feel connected to that idea, as well. Curator: Indeed. The blossoms, with their incredibly short life cycle, are poignant signifiers of ephemeral beauty, of transient life. Consider the Japanese concept of "mono no aware" – a sensitivity to the fleeting nature of things. How does that layer add to your understanding? Editor: That connects powerfully. The transience highlights how all of the elements here suggest transformation, decay, and renewal, all at once. Curator: It is the simultaneous existence of these ideas that Reimold captures. The constant process, really. And by layering culturally resonant symbols, Reimold asks the viewer to contemplate that process. Editor: I’m starting to appreciate the symbolic complexity layered into such a deceptively simple image! Curator: I'm glad. It's a potent reminder that images can carry the weight of centuries.