Sunday, July 27, 2008

dead words butterflies

Dead words butterflies

Dead words butterflies - detail
This started as an illustration Friday piece and sort of grew from there. The word of the week was "canned" which I didn't like at all, but it did made me think of those animals and insects that are preserved in formaldehyde, and how, preservation of something, often destroy it, not because the thing itself is gone, but because the meaning and the use of them is gone, and so a beautiful spontaneous and very fragile thing, like a butterfly, or even a spoken word sometime, becomes useless when it's dead in a box or written down in a book.


8 comments:

Mim said...

Hi - thanks for stopping by. I like your "canned" illustration - especially the way the words go in one direction and then another. very effective.

Ellen said...

I think no matter where the word leads you as long as it prompts you to create it is doing it's job! Excellent illo BTW!

Ulla said...

fantastic illo!!

lauren said...

so clever! i love this! and i love your blog... by the way!

steve said...

Simply brilliant!

Magic Penny said...

lovely piece!

Nicky Linzey said...

This is beautiful and very clever. I agree with your sentiment entirely.

Brine Blank said...

Great concept and execution...using printed text really adds to this...