Sagittarius 2019

Camilla d’Errico made this dreamlike Sagittarius sometime in the 20th century using paint. The palette is soft, a pastel explosion of whimsy that makes you feel like you’re stepping into a candy-colored fantasy. D’Errico's work is all about those delicate touches, like the porcelain quality of the centaur’s skin against the almost psychedelic, swirling ground. Look at the way the butterflies seem to float around the figure, some landing as if drawn to her magnetic pull, others leaving trails of light behind them. My eye keeps getting drawn to the centaur's hooves which seem to be melting into the ground as if the boundary between reality and fantasy is dissolving. This reminds me a little of Odilon Redon, especially in the way he played with the line between dreams and the everyday. It’s this kind of ambiguity that makes art so alive, so endlessly fascinating, isn’t it?