Butterfly Box

oil on panel, 36" x 24"

Shape, symmetry, and asymmetry are important design elements in this work, as are nature and human control. The painting is split approximately in half vertically, with one side devoted to the grass and sky (albeit in rather synthetic colors), and the other half to the figure and house. The butterfly, box, and hands inhabit both.

We cannot tell the full expression of the androgynous person upon opening the box. The butterfly release could symbolize many things. The butterfly masks most of the person's features. It seems both beautiful and terrible, full of dichotomies like its stark coloring. The box is similar to the house in its neutrality and they could be figuratively, as well as literally, parallel in meaning. There is mystery and tension between what is visible and what is hidden.