Boy Discovers Comfort In Transitional Objects In The Shape Of Beasts

Egg Tempera on vellum & 22k gold leaf 8” x 5 5/8” (double matted 15” x 12”), 2011

About the piece:
My brother really did find comfort in stuffed animal toys. Both the dog and the monkey were more than bit players in the daily life of our family. When my sister was angry with him she would hide them and there was hell to pay until he got them back.

About the series:
Each image in the Children and Beasts manuscript series came from studying medieval manuscripts and referencing early bestiaries, (collections of moralized fables about actual or mythical animals). Children feel a kinship with animals; both are felt to be untainted by the artificial structures of human civilization and remain natural and innocent. What better way to illustrate our middle class concepts of nostalgia and an ideal childhood than to merge these principles; the innocence of the ideal Western childhood with the charm, humor and imaginative aspect of the Medieval Bestiary?

All the of the titles are generated by mimicking the language, titles and descriptions of manuscripts and paintings on panel that I find in the many books on this subject that I keep in my studio.