La Madre 2017

Curator: Camilla d'Errico's "La Madre," created in 2017 using acrylic on canvas, beckons us into her captivating world. What are your immediate thoughts? Editor: The eyes grab you first, don't they? Uneven, like a doll's, but full of intent. The whole piece feels like a lucid dream teetering on the edge of a darker fairytale. Curator: I feel that. Her paintings, especially this one, seem to be an intimate glimpse into her subconscious. D’Errico often plays with these juxtapositions - cuteness mixed with a melancholy, maybe even darkness. Editor: Absolutely. Look at the crown of goldfish. Are they symbolic of good fortune, wealth... or perhaps the fleeting nature of those things? There's a playful quality to the goldfish, almost cartoonish. And what are those other symbols, skulls? Bees? They all carry a weight, right? Curator: Indeed! She layers symbolism, and the skulls contrast with the soft rendering of the girl’s face. Also, what do you think of that flowing liquid pattern as an ocean around her? The lines and gentle colors could represent both the currents of life and creative juices of an artist. Editor: It almost feels amniotic, a womb-like space. 'La Madre,' the mother… this figure feels both ancient and newborn at once. I like how you call it a sea too; maybe there is some connection to stories like Ophelia. Curator: That could be part of it. The two tone water gives a dreamy feeling, so much surreal imagery floating in her dreamy world, almost tattoo-like! Editor: What resonates most for me is that unsettling sense of beauty alongside something… unresolved. "La Madre" becomes less a portrait and more a mirror reflecting our own anxieties back at us. Curator: Yes, unresolved. She leaves you in a kind of imaginative suspension.