CURRENT SHOW
Three new portraits, all painted "In Grand Style" (oil, pastel and gold leaf)
are currently on exhibit in Astoria at Imogen Gallery, on display until Dec 6th, 2024.
Women of Myth and Mystery
Three Portraits by Pippa Arend
What connects these three women, Joan of Arc, Judith and Ophelia? Nothing less than their profound commitments to their impassioned causes. Marked by time, history and a perilous moment, they speak truth to power with their own bodies, even to the point of death.
Joan hears the voice of God, sees the future rippling through her, and know she has a role to play. The moment I tried to capture here is the one in which she sees her own death as the grave consequence of saying “yes” to God, of answering her calling in the affirmative. She feels the fire blazing through her voice, and she leans into her fate. Thy Will Be Done.
Ophelia’s story is one in which she has no voice. Her singular act of agency lies in embracing her own death. Is it an accident that she drowns? Or does she die by her own hand, slipping into the water, letting the weighty fabric soak and shrink around her obedient body. The moment I tried to capture is the morning of her death, in the clarity of the early light, as she has a premonition of how the day will play out. She will lose her heart as well as her balance, surrendering to her ultimate sacrifice. As she makes her voice heard through the translucent veils around her, she impels us to consider her in a kinder moment. Remember, remember me before I was mad.
Judith, from the first testament, finds herself in an embattled village, widowed. In desperation, she hatches a plan in which she will assassinate the leader of the invading army, Holofernes, through cunning and seduction. I tried to capture the hour before, while she’s at her bath in preparation, her moment of rapturous confidence and clarity in which she knows that Victory Is Mine.
are currently on exhibit in Astoria at Imogen Gallery, on display until Dec 6th, 2024.
Women of Myth and Mystery
Three Portraits by Pippa Arend
What connects these three women, Joan of Arc, Judith and Ophelia? Nothing less than their profound commitments to their impassioned causes. Marked by time, history and a perilous moment, they speak truth to power with their own bodies, even to the point of death.
Joan hears the voice of God, sees the future rippling through her, and know she has a role to play. The moment I tried to capture here is the one in which she sees her own death as the grave consequence of saying “yes” to God, of answering her calling in the affirmative. She feels the fire blazing through her voice, and she leans into her fate. Thy Will Be Done.
Ophelia’s story is one in which she has no voice. Her singular act of agency lies in embracing her own death. Is it an accident that she drowns? Or does she die by her own hand, slipping into the water, letting the weighty fabric soak and shrink around her obedient body. The moment I tried to capture is the morning of her death, in the clarity of the early light, as she has a premonition of how the day will play out. She will lose her heart as well as her balance, surrendering to her ultimate sacrifice. As she makes her voice heard through the translucent veils around her, she impels us to consider her in a kinder moment. Remember, remember me before I was mad.
Judith, from the first testament, finds herself in an embattled village, widowed. In desperation, she hatches a plan in which she will assassinate the leader of the invading army, Holofernes, through cunning and seduction. I tried to capture the hour before, while she’s at her bath in preparation, her moment of rapturous confidence and clarity in which she knows that Victory Is Mine.