Sky – Camilla d’Errico

Last year, I did a whole run up to Christmas on here, searching out weird and wonderful art and stories to share with you around the creatures, traditions and folklore from this festive time of the year.  This year, I am looking at nature in art whether it be a celebration or a stark warning.  Life is something we all take for granted at times, and it’s a theme which comes up a lot in art, either that we don’t appreciate the beauty which is around us or that we are draining the resources of the planet.

Just to make it clear, I am not here to lecture anyone about the things we do to the planet – you all hear it enough on the news, or see it in the papers, so please don’t think I am using this as a soap box, it is more that at this time of year, in the Northern Hemisphere we have shorter days and everything looks drab and bare, so the thought of new life in the spring time does act as something to look forward to.  There are also the Christian connotations of the celebration of the saviour… but if you know me, you know religion is also not one of my agendas.

So let’s move on to this beautiful piece.  Camilla d’Errico is of Italian descent, but lives and works in Vancouver.  Her work covers a range of areas with influences from comic books and manga, but reaches out to include vinyl toys.  Born in 1980, d’Errico has been drawing comics since 2001 and her art work and career has grown solidly since.

As well as working on comic books, d’Errico also paints, starting this in 2006 and having items in exhibition since 2007.  Her oil paintings show many of the comic influences that she is so passionate about as they combine beautiful doe eyed women, intertwined with animals and insects, they are highly colourful and fantastical.

In this piece, colours appear to melt over the head of a young girl, and her eyes are covered by a skull baring moth.  The girl, with her pouty lips, is surrounded by clouds, as she is blinded by nature.

d’Errico has blended the beauty of manga with surrealism, giving us as the audience peek in to the characters that she portrays within the pieces.  This particular character, wearing her moth mask, to me seems to be lost in her own thoughts (head in the clouds) while masked by a moth perhaps indicating a fear of death, or this could be the fear of the disappearance of the creatures that pollinate for us; as without those we would be truly stuck.  To me this is a very deep and thought provoking piece.

If you want to see more of d’Errico’s work you can find it here along with her super cute vinyl toys.

What do you think of d’Errico’s work?  Why not tell me in the comments?  Like this post?  Why not share it?

Want to see more of what inspires me, or things I am working on?  Find me on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram by searching WidowCranky.