capricorn 2019

Curator: Immediately, I’m drawn to the curious expression, that hint of playful defiance. Editor: Today we’re looking at "Capricorn," an acrylic on paper piece created in 2019 by Camilla d’Errico. The artist synthesizes a post-modern figurative language and distinctive chromatic choices that gives rise to this very unsettling image. Curator: Unsettling is one word. The composition situates the figure centrally, but the heterochromatic eyes and floral horns offer an interesting, modern update on traditional mythologies of femininity. Is this an assertion of identity through an adoption of fantastical narratives? Editor: Look at how she achieves that surreal depth through very calculated light and shadow. It is so visually tactile, don't you think? I'd argue this is about an exploration of form—the geometry of the dripping paint versus the roundness of the face, the patterns. She teases us with layers of symbolism. Curator: Absolutely, the tension between the decorative and the visceral is so palpable here! It calls into question constructions of the monstrous-feminine and challenges how we are implicated in the spectacle of monstrosity. It could be an incisive comment on female representation. The unsettling stare holds our gaze, but who is controlling whom? Editor: Perhaps. I would be curious about d’Errico's use of color to communicate a mood; for instance, the soft pink against the cold blue patterns could suggest something is emerging from something else. And I would agree that the dripping, juxtaposed with such defined contours, is meant to guide us on a symbolic pathway through the piece. Curator: It’s pieces like this that prove that Pop Surrealism holds up a mirror to some very persistent issues. "Capricorn" prompts a needed confrontation between innocence, agency, and power dynamics. Editor: It certainly is a conversation starter, no matter what vantage point one takes. I am struck by the execution.