The Butterfly Book
Rick Beerhorst About this artist
ARTIST'S STATEMENT: “
These are my three daughters. This painting has to do with how we learn in different ways, how we tune into the world around us.
”These are my three daughters. This painting has to do with how we learn in different ways, how we tune into the world around us.
”Cats and books figure a lot in my imagery. The cat is a household connection to the natural world and our own wild genetic past. The book is a path way to new ways of seeing, new ways of thinking and ultimately personal and spiritual transformation.
” “The theme of drifting off to sleep is one I continue to return to in my work. The in between place between waking and sleeping is like twilight. It is a place of mystery, a place where the physical reality and the mystical reality become bedfellows.
” “This painting began with a very cool vintage dress that came into our household. I used an old cosmetology book for the hair style. The knife on the table dates back to the civil war and I picked it up in a local junk store.
” “Our girls were playing with Brat dolls at the time I painted this. I feel like the inclusion of the doll helps anchor the painting into the present. The mirror and the addition of a self portrait add another layer of meaning to this painting.
” “This is a painting that my daughter posed for in an old jacket that was coming apart at the seams. The frayed edges felt like a good metaphor of our life as artists that often feel thread bare in more ways than finances.
” “I painted this when our family was living for a year in Brooklyn NY. Our family of 8 all in a 2 bedroom apt with one bath. It was a great adventure.
” “I have been painting images of my children for their whole lives. For them to pose is the most natural thing.
” “This is another painting of one of my daughters wearing a cool vintage blue sweater we found some where I don't remember.
” “This is a painting of one of my daughters holding a rose cut from the garden. The rose is traditionally a symbol of love. The background is from a local park.
” “This is a neighbor girl who came over to play with my girls over the years. One day she showed up wearing this wonderful red collar and I knew I needed to paint her portrait.
” “This painting is from a series about looking to the things that can't be seen with only a material world view.
” “This painting is like an icon in that it encourages a state of meditation.
” “This is painting reaches back into a rich pictorial history of representing Mary Magdalene with her urn. The urn which in the story holds the perfume worth about $50,000 in today's money was poured out on the feat of Christ in a spontaneous act of worship.
” “This is the detail from a larger picture that tries to re-frame the female breast beyond the level of erotic and simple function to the sphere of metaphysical.
” “These are my three daughters. This painting has to do with how we learn in different ways, how we tune into the world around us.
” “This is a painting in a series dealing with the idea of poetic insight. What do we see when we go beyond the obvious, what does the blind poet see?
” “This is a new painting in a series I have begun with the subject sticking out their tongue.
” “I was inspired to paint this image because of an illuminated manuscript painting I stumbled upon from the 14th Century.
” “I have painted this view many times and over the years developed a meaningful relationship with the city where I live.
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