The Altarpiece with Lilies by Cay
Reference Enchanted Dolls:
Colours: Lolita
Baby and Flowers: The Vessel
Embossing: Lavanya, Makhdot
Materials:
- Supports made of cardboard0wood and paper
- Pitt pen
- Acrylic painting
- Golden and white embossing powders
- Gilt metal hinges
For this creation, I have used the shape of an altarpiece, this religious painting made up of several parts.
I have abided by the traditional distribution of the colours used in these polyptyches: when they're closed, the panels are painted in a "grisaille" and when they're open, the panels display vivid colours and gilts.
I have intended to toy with the concepts of display and concealment: when closed, the panels conceal something inside, that's why the hands are concealing a face, but the eye looking at us between the fingers invites us to satisfy our curiosity.
At the back of the altarpiece, the lilies are still budding, the flowers are closed and they're not in full bloom.
Once you open the panels, the faces surrounding the main figure show astonishment and incredulity: in the middle, a woman reveals something deep inside her. The hands in front of her mouth refer to restrained feelings and unspoken comments.
The woman's body can display as well as conceal something. Childbirth is both a socially acknowledged fulfillment and an intimate experiment. Here, the child is drawn at the woman's heart, which is the so-called centre of our innermost feelings. The viewer can see it but at the same time he's separate by the plastic film.
The baby is lying on a lily. This blooming flower refers to the femal sex, in other words the blossoming. Nevertheless, lilies have often been used in altarpieces to symbolize the Blessed Virgin, a stereotype that conveys an image of femininity diametrically opposed to the idea of blossoming.