Catbee 2020

Camilla d’Errico painted this “Catbee” with a light touch of blue and green acrylic paint. The colours feel like a dreamy memory of a meadow or something that might exist in a children's storybook. I love the way d’Errico gives form to the painting through the subtle use of colour and shading. I can almost see her painting it; the intuition she must have had in the way she confidently added the stripes, like a bee, one after the other. I can feel the artist's attention to detail in the soft texture of the Catbee’s fur and the glint of those little wings. It makes me think about the push and pull in all our work, our desire for definition and clarity versus our openness to embrace chance, and to make something that only exists in our imagination. It is through this process of constant exchange that artists across time converse with one another and push our perception of reality.