Prurient Apparition
2008
Watercolor, Graphite and goldpoint on 300 lb. paper
22 x 30" w/deckled edges
30.5 x 37.5" framed
John Ruskin called orchids a prurient apparition. Prurient menas having, inclined to have, or characterized by lascivious or lustful thoughts desires, etc. Ruskin's observation of the orchid's lasciviousness alludes to it's sensual structure.
The connection between the structure of the veretebrate and the shape of orchids was pointed out at one of my shows. An older woman spent a long time looking at my piece, "Alluvion." She called the vertebrates orchids. The mysterious femininity of my Tu-Tu's white kid gloves and my Mom's high school compact suggest a memory of grand feminity. Pearls and trinkets symbolize the image of beauty that women were taught to emmulate. Trinkets seen, orchids unseen?
