Title: West Virginia Woolfe
Material: oil on wood
Size: 36×24
Year: 2014
“When I cannot see words curling like rings of smoke around me I am in darkness – I am nothing. I only come into existence when the plumber, or the horse dealer, or whoever it may be, says something which sends me alight. Then how lovely the smoke of my phrases is, rising and falling, flaunting and falling, upon red lobsters and yellow fruit, wreathing them into one beauty.” — Virginia Woolf
If Virginia Woolf looks depressed in photos, it’s because she frequently was. Privilege, talent and education make no difference when Churchill’s so-called “black dog” is on your trail. This painting’s split of positive and negative colors attempts to explain this circumstance and how Virginia produced such timeless brilliance in spite of it. The hillocks behind her are nothing but a cheap gimmick meant to justify this painting’s clever but misleading title.