De Rebus Natura

i-12d7c2f635fad6760fb3a82425c8a4cd-FOS26.png
Cristina Vergano, 2006

Via the wonderful Phantasmaphile, I just discovered artist Cristina Vergano. Her latest series, "Figures of Speech," are like Old Masters crossed with children's puzzles - playful Renaissance rebuses that spell out their own titles (key at the bottom of this post).

i-11d18a043f8f3eb4ef8dac1918466642-FOS8.png
Cristina Vergano, 2006

Vergano mixes trompe l'oeil with typefaces, clear-eyed, enigmatic people and animals, and allegorical landscapes to perfectly balance frivolity with the suggestion of deeper meaning. Vergano said in the artist's statement for an earlier exhibition, "Knowledge and our approaches to it are the subjects of my paintings."

i-7f642f10e1518a26dacd363da2d7a645-FOS14.png
Cristina Vergano, 2006

Also check out "Cristina's World: Chronicles of Evolution," Vergano's 2000 series, which plays with ideas of humanity, definitions, and nature, in an alternate artistic reality inhabited by fantastic hybrids.

i-af6f339b6180f7735a067f6187232bbc-FOS19.png
Cristina Vergano, 2006

Titles of the paintings in this post:

1. Keep clear of fears and wants
2. Please leave when it is wise to
3. My my, why fear?
4. Deep ignorance

More like this

Madonna and Horsefly John Brophy, 2008 Pam over at Phantasmaphile never fails to discover wonderful, quirky new art. Her latest find: John Brophy. His "Madonna and Horsefly" kind of freaks me out, not in a bad way, but because I've been planning some paintings along this exact theme! But Brophy's…
Madame Ovary , 2008 Collage, 3.5 x 5.5" Richard Russell Following up neatly on my post about Nicole Natri's anatomical collage, artist Richard Russell mixes beeswax and book art to create provocative, creepily symbolic images like Madame Ovary (above). Russell describes himself as a serious…
The Ambassadors, 1533 Hans Holbein the Younger In the artistic technique called anamorphosis, an object is depicted in distorted perspective, so that the viewer has to take special action, like looking from a specific angle, to see the "correct" image. The most famous example of anamorphic…
The National Library of Medicine just opened a new exhibition, "Harry Potter's World: Renaissance Science, Magic, and Medicine." "Harry Potter's World" explores the plants, animals, and magic featured in the Harry Potter book series and their roots in Renaissance traditions that played an…

Is that the artist in the picture? No, not the bunny, the pig, the bugs or the hen, silly, the person!

I don't look like the woman with the red dress in my painting, nor did I use a model. Hers is an idealized face, distilled from Art History, very classical.
However, in a way she is me, like all the characters in my work.
Yes, even the pig. And the ever-useful ants. (You try to come up with 20 rebuses that work halfway harmoniously with the images and make decent paintings!)
I am now working on something very different for my show in 2009. Can't post them online yet, but they are lots of fun.

By Cristina Vergano (not verified) on 09 Sep 2008 #permalink

Thanks for stopping by, Cristina, and answering those questions! I'm anxious to see your new work.