Maiden and the Beast 2017

Curator: Looking at Jana Brike’s 2017 painting, "Maiden and the Beast", rendered in oils, I’m immediately struck by this feeling of bittersweet twilight. What’s your take? Editor: The labor and material investment needed for oil paintings always grab my attention. I’m looking at this painting and it presents an odd, unsettled vibe, almost a gothic fairytale in the making with the woman's almost too-innocent flower crown sharply contrasted by the snarling black cat she's cradling. Curator: Precisely! There's a potent tension. Brike masterfully weaves that contrast throughout; note the veil against the rather ominous, moonlit sky. The butterflies...or are they spirits?... swirling around, neither quite ominous nor quite celebratory. Editor: And those tiny details speak to larger production chains and artisanry. I'm thinking of brushes, pigments sourced who-knows-where, and a canvas stretched meticulously taut. What's interesting here is Brike deliberately juxtaposes the kind of time-consuming, almost anachronistic oil medium with a contemporary sensibility. Curator: I agree completely. It feels deeply romantic, but there’s a layer of irony or awareness, perhaps a commentary on traditional romantic tropes. It's almost like she's painting a dream, one that is hers alone. Editor: Absolutely. There’s a friction, which from a materialist viewpoint comes down to consumption. Fantasy art as a commodity taps into something primal and marketable, so it is both imaginative and profitable. The question is, what are we buying into when we choose to engage with these kinds of images? Curator: It also asks a question of identity. The girl in the image isn't entirely innocent, not exactly tainted either; and that duality is captivating. Perhaps the beast, the cat, represents a side of herself she can't ignore or wants to tame. Editor: Or maybe it's about commodifying anxieties, anxieties around nature, around the wild feminine… The very act of representing it pins it down for consumption. The more I look, the more I consider our appetite for images like this one. Curator: Fair point! For me, it's Brike's intimate grasp of mood and mystery, making visible these complicated undercurrents. I get lost in it. Editor: I see an ongoing negotiation between beauty, production, and market appeal. An interesting tug-of-war we continue to engage with as viewers and consumers.