|
|
|
|
Phoenix (Cape Cod Crow) 2004
32" wide x 40" high
oil on linen, charcoal and collage
Private collection, Seattle, WA
Image copyright © 2010 by the artist Scattergood-Moore
Also see: Cape Cod Crow on Pizza Plate | Crow Tondo
| The Phoenix is a mythical bird with a 600-800 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of cinnamon twigs that it then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix arises, reborn anew to live again. The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self. It represents the life cycle: birth, growth, death and re-birth because from the ashes life arises anew often strengthened through reinvention. But this happens not just from reinvention of oneself but through innovation. And innovation helps to propel us forward... In this drawing/painting, the large circle is a charcoal drawing of a dead crow I found on the mid-cape highway of Cape Cod while driving my daughter to summer camp. Maybe it represents the death of the mythical phoenix and/or the violent suicide of my beloved aunt. The smaller circle - placed and attached over the drawing - is an oil painting in color painted from life, representing the young phoenix - maybe my maturing self - arising reborn from the ashes of the charcoal drawing. The Phoenix has appeared in many forms in my artworks (dead horse skulls, dead oriole, etc.) and is very important to me in transcending some painful life experiences.
|
