On Valentine's Day I wrote a post on my Paper With A Past blog about our family tradition of "strange cupids." That is, Victorian and Edwardian images of cupid that are disturbing enough to make my husband and daughter cringe. I'm on the hunt for them all the time. The weirder, the better.
So, you can imagine my delight at finding this Charles Dana Gibson illustration in "The Gibson Book," a fantastic, over-sized, two-volume collection of his drawings that Scribner's published in 1906. Looking at it, well, I just HAD to make yet one more, new collage for The Art of Food exhibit at The Carnegie.
As you can see below, the image is pretty much intact. I wanted to keep his signature - on the bottom left - but it didn't work out. To my family, the most unsettling part of the image is the steam rising from Cupid. So, of course, I had to add to it. I found a vintage scrap of hearts afire, then, added more flames from a vintage tarot card and painted the steam a smokey grey. Now, they are even more unsettled.
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| © Hot Plate (2012) mixed-media collage: antique illustration; recycled invitation & wrapping papers; vintage sheet music & scraps; ink; watercolor; acrylic sealer. 7.5" x 7.5" on archival mat board. Matted & framed. Price: $125. (SOLD) |
