Ruan Lingyu's Puzzling Interlude at Owl Hollow
A couple of weeks ago I stumbled — like a proverbial Alice — across an astonishing series of paintings devoted to silent film star Ruan Lingyu. I was completely surprised and enchanted by these strange tableaux which featured an actress so familiar and beloved to me.
Compelled by Ruan's tragic life and sad beauty, artist Kamala Dolphin-Kingsley created this trinity of works that became the centerpiece of her 2005 exhibit Somnium at Seattle's Bluebottle Art Gallery. In her artist statement she wrote that the paintings are "a tribute of imagined dreams, of a different world free from the torments of humanity, to inhabit Ruan Lingyu's self-imposed sleep."
Ruan Lingyu's Tangible Delectation
Through the alchemy of Dolphin-Kingsley's art, Ruan's suicide becomes a shamanic passage into the underworld. Accompanied by a retinue of animal guides — the wise owl, all-seeing peacock, lucky goldfish, and mercurial octopus and salamander — she travels through the hollow of death to emerge as the eternal Goddess.
Ruan Lingyu and Octopus
To see more of Kamala Dolphin-Kingsley's amazing work, visit her website and Flickr page.
5 comments:
Thanks Dave, kind of eerie! I feel like I should be sipping some absinthe. 8{
I'll join you, Dennis! I've always wanted to try that particular spirit.
"Ruan Lingyu's self-imposed sleep". An intriguing way to describe suicide from Kamala Dolphin-Kingsley. In a way she gives Ruan Lingyu a happy ending particularly with the animal companions. I really like it.
It is always amazing what one can run across when one is really immersed in the study of a place and period.
Hi duriandave --
"Strange tableaux" indeed... but interesting too. And I agree with dleelee that there is an eerie feel to those works -- something I wonder if the artist actually intended!
-- Ed, I was also intrigued by Kamala's transformation of Ruan's suicide. While suicide is painful for the survivors, for those who commit the act, it is often a way of escaping pain. It is also a way of asserting control over one's life. Anyway, glad you liked these pieces.
-- YTSL, I think so. All of Kamala's work is very otherworldly, an effect which is achieved not only by the unexpected encounters (eg. Ruan Lingyu and octopus) but also the quality of light in her paintings.
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