Return from the Brink

Full Title: Return from the Brink, Defeated and Riding a Pig
("Brink" for short)



This is one of my favorites. It appeared on the postcard invitation for my artshow and earned some of the best comments. The image seems to have occurred at random, leaving it open to everyone's own unique interpretation. What's yours?



This oil painting is an odd size: 16"x48.25" (41cmx122.5cm), on stretched canvas.
SOLD.


My battle with Symbolism and what the Pig means.

I have become very intentional in my use of symbols. Though I will still create images with relatively little meaning, those pieces that become especially personal are often littered with symbols or an overall feel of being symbolic. I often apply meaning or intention to everything I do in a work of art (especially color and subject matter ranging from animals to household appliances). Many of my symbols are borrowed from traditional meanings (the horse as a symbol of power, the color white as a sign of purity, etc.), while some of my symbols are purely my own (red balloons symbolizing the unknown future). Some of my symbols (like red balloons and black dogs) have fairly consistent and identifiable meanings, while the meanings of other potential symbols (like cats) can change dramatically depending on how they’re used.
One symbol that I have come to use quite often is the pig. But for as often as I use it, I haven’t ever really given it a definite meaning. I began using the pig in my artwork a few years ago after being inspired by my favorite Japanese animator, Hayao Miyazaki, who likes pigs and often uses them to portray something of a personality type, and I remember liking pigs very much when I was a little girl, but what do they mean to me? Pigs, I have decided, are very human creatures, but much less so than humans. The pig seems to be some noble, steadfast animal: unassuming and misunderstood. It maintains its place in society, not far from the bottom of regarded creatures, and occasionally shining near the top with its unexpectedly charming qualities…
The pig is a kind of constant amid chaos. It may be flying, falling, slain or saddled… but it remains a pig.