About the Item

Presented by Bronner Gallery for Market Art & Design This work takes us with in a story full of subtle details, which are read from left to right. It features mythical women who follow their desires. Women who have paved the way and enabled today’s women to achieve what they want. These women are all a certain representation of Eve, the first woman. The one who started it all. This work then depicts the journey, from this first woman to all those we wish to be, with a master idea: we must bite the apple. Let’s start this description with “Eve” to the left of the work. She’s thoughtful, dreamy. She thinks she’s lucky. She can do whatever she wants with her destiny, because behind her lie all the women and the path they have travelled so that she can do so today. Her reflection is like a chronological line, starting from antiquity to the present day. On her t-shirt, a representation of the goddess Venus, taken from the artwork «Le triomphe de Galatée» by Raphaël, is drawn by two dolphins. She sails on the waters, her gaze totally detached from the agitation that surrounds her, because she is determined to find her destiny. Our Eve starts her dream with another representation of the goddess Venus, the one from Botticelli, who in this work seems to wake up from a dream. It is the embodiment of femininity in all its splendor. It is synonymous with desire, the one who must always be able to guide us. The gaze is then drawn to our Eve at the center, riding an inflatable dolphin: the Venus of artist Jeff Koons in «Antiquity 2». She is a goddess. She does what she wants because she wants it. Pushed by Zéphir, she goes on an adventure on her dolphin. She then makes a stop on the shore in the skin of another «Eve», that of the artist Louise Bonnet, who relies on the tree of knowledge to take off. The hand that pulls it means, ""Come quickly, don’t stop there, life is elsewhere."" It evokes here the free will, that one must absolutely preserve by following its instincts. Here, it is not a snake that tempts her, but a small bird that literally puts the apple in her mouth, because she does not have to think, she has to bite the apple. On the shore, a woman with a carrot in her hand, an incongruous object if any, teaches us that we do not need a carrot to do things and move forward, nor do we need to aim for any prize, as the little dog in the trophy reminds us. It’s just important to do things for yourself. The middle woman is Tippi Hedren in the film «The Birds» by Alfred Hitchcock. Enigmatic and cold like the heroines of Hitchcock, it conveys a feeling of fear. She warns us that to stay on uneven paths, nothing exciting happens. Our Eve then decides to write her life, to the right, mounted on a chair, free, without fear, turned towards the future. It thus closes the reading of this work. As for us, let’s do like all these women. Let us rise to the occasion, look at the world differently and pave the way for generations of women to come. Ref: 1005

Creator:
Elka Leonard (1971, French)
Creation Year:
2020
Dimensions:
Height: 36.23 in (92 cm)Width: 63.78 in (162 cm)Depth: 1.58 in (4 cm)
Medium:
Acrylic
Period:
21st Century
Condition:
Unique work.
Gallery Location:
Bridgehampton, NY
Reference Number:
Seller: 1005 1stDibs: LU139626535892