Art d'Echo
acrylic on wood panel
24" x 12"





Inspired by the Art Deco 1910-1939 exhibit at the de Young museum in San Francisco (2004), this painting gave me the opportunity to live for a while within one of my favorite design movements (though the chance to have some fun with it may have proved a tad irresistible).


The image is an adaptation of the central panel of the magnificent Oasis iron and brass screen created in 1924 by French artist Edgar Brandt (to whom I extend my most humble apologies).


To this garden scene I added my own figure of a classic white Egret. This bird was inspired by the three-fold screen Egrets and Pandanus (created in the late 1930s by American artist Lloyd Sexton) which I became aware of during a 2008 visit to the Honolulu Academy of Arts in Hawai'i. This elegant Egret could only have been compelled to perch on the edge of a fountain and linger in just this very garden oasis every bit as sleek and streamlined as he is.


And what a wonderful metaphor he is for the opportunity each and every one of us has to find our own perfect place in life - one that lives up to our marvelous self-image - and where any small, tiny, little characteristic that others might take the trouble to label as a "fault" fades to the level of insignificance it truly deserves.


(Oh, and I apologize to Mr. Sexton for appropriating one of his birds.)