Jennybird Alcantara (HF Vol. 14 featured artist) has been working on her new series of oil paintings inspired by all things unknown. She will reveal them on June 13th at AFA Gallery in Soho, New York in her solo exhibition titled, “Charming the Wilds”. At her blog, Jennybird writes, “To have the ability to Charm takes a different kind of power, it is still strong but soft and alluring at the same time, it ‘conjures’ images of hypnotized ladies being led through the woods by beasts or the ability to charm the fairy voice out of a flower and bring it to a new level of life, the ability to communicate with animals, it also can feel mischievous but not too dark.”
With conjuring as her overall theme, Jennybird captures feelings of enchantment in portraits of young girls led by animals through strange, fantastical woods. She compares her female subjects to “Lilith,” identified as a female demon in Jewish mythology. Lilith mingles with familiar creatures, such as baby deer and tigers, with an almost saintly quality. Their beauty is juxtaposed against the treacherous atmosphere of their surroundings, which she calls the “Wilds.” As the environment dissipates into dark, sometimes negative space, Jennybird allows her viewers to get lost in these hidden places. She adds, ” I want to charm the wilds. I want to bring a little magic into the world if I can… So, “Charming the Wilds” feels like it was there all along under the soil waiting for me to kick some dirt aside and find it there smiling up at me like a shiny coin with a cute little face.”
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