Pollentator 2016

Camilla d'Errico made this piece, Pollentator, with paint, and those colours - blues, reds and yellows - are all pretty juicy, like art supplies when you first get them. The canvas has a dry, matte surface, which contrasts nicely with the shimmery, wet-look quality of the butterfly-eyes. Looking closely, you can see that the paint has been built up in layers to achieve this effect. The brushstrokes feel quite delicate, especially around the edges of the wings, which gives the butterfly an ethereal, almost dreamlike quality. Then, the eyes change the whole mood and feel much more direct. It is a funny switch! I’m reminded of Odilon Redon, who also created dreamlike images, full of symbolism and strange beauty. Much like Redon, D’Errico’s work invites us into a world of imagination and wonder, where nothing is quite as it seems, and where the boundaries between reality and fantasy become wonderfully blurred.