| LE MAL DU PAYS Oil on canvas, 54 x 40 in., Private Collection, and also as an Archival print available in multiple sizes |
This image can be seen two ways: with
the figures right side up while the
landscape on the top is upside down, as
shown here, or with the figures upside
down while the landscape on the bottom
is right side up. Either way they are
recognizable as a mother and child. The
psychologist Carl Jung said images like
the mother and child that transcend the
boundaries of culture and time, are
archetypal images, symbols common to all
humankind. In this work the archetype of
the mother and child are shown as a
Chinese-American woman and her son.
Because archetypes are easily assimilated
into our consciousness, I have been able
to take artistic liberties and show them
here as flying and upside down. Even as a
child I liked flying and being upside down.
Also if you can fly and defy gravity, then
right side up and upside down have no
hold over you. I started the work as right
side up and only later turned it upside
down about midway in its process. Some
people prefer to see images right side up
and so I have made the print to be viewed
in both ways. The English translation of
the French title is Homesickness because
there is always a longing for our inner
home.
the figures right side up while the
landscape on the top is upside down, as
shown here, or with the figures upside
down while the landscape on the bottom
is right side up. Either way they are
recognizable as a mother and child. The
psychologist Carl Jung said images like
the mother and child that transcend the
boundaries of culture and time, are
archetypal images, symbols common to all
humankind. In this work the archetype of
the mother and child are shown as a
Chinese-American woman and her son.
Because archetypes are easily assimilated
into our consciousness, I have been able
to take artistic liberties and show them
here as flying and upside down. Even as a
child I liked flying and being upside down.
Also if you can fly and defy gravity, then
right side up and upside down have no
hold over you. I started the work as right
side up and only later turned it upside
down about midway in its process. Some
people prefer to see images right side up
and so I have made the print to be viewed
in both ways. The English translation of
the French title is Homesickness because
there is always a longing for our inner
home.
