Category: Naive Art

One of my personal favourites from the new release limited edition prints, by Sarah Jane Szikora, is this one:

(‘The Merry Widow’)

‘The Merry Widow,’ is a lovely happy image, reminiscent of the big hollywood musical movies of years gone by, I think we are in the finale of a great number, im sure of it!

I love the fact that nearly the whole ‘set’ is made of sweets! from jelly babies as the supporting cast, to lolly pops in the middle and even the plinth the gingerbread man & the ‘fat’ lady are standing on appears to be marshmallow, yum!

We wrote previously that there are meanings to each of Sarah’s picture and in this one, we have been reliably informed that this represents the end of Szikora’s ‘marriage’ as she is now out of contract with her previous publisher and is now a ‘Merry Widow’ which I think is a brilliant pun.

And we have her new gingerbread man ‘boyfriend’ who is happy to dance with her and accompany her in the ‘closing number’ of this big hollywood musical!

Thank you

Emily

Links for classic Hollywood Musicals:
http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/2-28-2005-66376.asp
http://www.classicmoviemusicals.com/
http://www.hintsandthings.co.uk/musichall/musicals.htm

(above: ‘l’enfant Terrible’)

Our plan is to comment on each of Sarah Jane Szikora’s 8 new images in turn, So today we will get the ball rolling and hopefully time will allow us to finish all 8 pieces!

l’enfant Terrible:

This image, obviously features her most popular character, namely the gingerbread man! and a particularly cute one at that. He looks to be a little sad in this pic but don’t worry, I’m sure he is just about to be released any minute by a friendly jaffa cake!

There are several ways this picture can be interpreted, other than the cuteness of the image.

The fact that this Gingerbread has in the eyes of some been a ‘terrible child’ is the literal translation of ‘l’enfant Terrible’..that is the simple explanation of what’s happening in the picture i.e. he is being punished for something.

One perhaps unobvious representation, is that Sarah is now legally able to self publish her images as of February 2009, something she has been unable to do in 2 years, this restriction being her ‘ball and chain.’ I’m sure, as an accomplished artist, the burden of not being able to get her artwork ‘out there’ was very frustrating for her.

(above: random Gingerbread man image from the internet!)

But L’enfant Terrible is also means a child who is ‘terrifyingly’ candid by saying embarrassing things to adults, namely their parents – Sarah has produced a picture that perhaps draws on her frustration and through her painting she is being outspoken!

L’enfant Terrible can also mean an unusually successful person who is strikingly unorthodox, innovative, or avant-garde – certainly her images are unlike any other naïve art that come before her, so this definitely applies.

(above: ‘Good Enough To Eat’)
-an older limited edition & one of my favourites!

However you choose to look at this picture, don’t forget to enjoy the simple pleasure of visually enjoying the artwork.

Thank you

James

Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enfant_terrible
http://www.jaffejuice.com/2009/02/lenfant-terrible.html