Fairy tale imagery has appeared consistently in my artwork throughout the past few years. My association has been instinctual—while working, storybook pages, text, or imagery simply fit with the atmosphere I was creating . I knew I had an internal association with fairy tales, and viewers inevitably have their own reactions, thoughts, and memories prompted by the ephemera of familiar children’s stories combined with contrasting imagery.
Until recently, I hadn’t fully explored my own associations with fairy tales. However, as I look back through my works containing this familiar theme, my subconscious already had a fairly accurate understanding of how I intended these concepts to come across in my work.
It’s difficult to define exactly why I’m fascinated with fairly tale concepts and return to the theme again and again. I have an innocent naivety within me that appreciates the simplicity of good always triumphing over evil, the restoration of justice during troubled times, the romance of true love, and the safety of happily ever after.
However, these are the same concepts that the disillusioned-adult-me finds disheartening and absurd. In my artwork, I’m exploring this internal dichotomy of my childhood perceptions versus my adult perspective of these timeless themes as they relate and contrast with reality.
In real life, sometimes children get lost in the woods and never found, the fairy godmother never arrives, the evil queen continues her cruel reign, and it turns out–the prince is a monster.
Alice never liked that rabbit anyhow. Detail image 2
A Little Mending…, 18in x 18in mixed media collage on canvas, 2013
Detail image 1
no. 74:
no. 119: keep your mouth clean
no. 93: figure 6.57: Intentional Instability
no. 101: figure 7.12: Fatal Flaw
detail image 3
detail image 2
Then she got into bed… 12in x 12in, mixed media collage on canvas, 2012
no. 96: figure 2.61: Inferiority
Thoughts Drifting to Sleep (detail image)
She Didn’t Need A Golden Slipper, mixed media collage on canvas, 2011, 8in x 8in
The Woman I Will Never Be (detail image), mixed media collage on paper, 2006, 23in x 16in
Carly Swenson is an intuitive painter originally from northern Montana. She spent more than a decade working primarily as a mixed media artist before shifting to acrylics. Swenson received a BFA in Visual Arts with an Art History Minor from Bemidji State University. During and after university, she traveled and lived abroad, this included studying in China, traveling throughout Europe and living both in England and the Azores.Swenson’s work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions throughout the US and internationally. Her freelance writing and mixed media journals have been published in nationally distributed art magazines. She has facilitated art workshops for various age groups. Swenson’s work is also included in the permanent art collections of Angra do Heroismo Museum and Bemidji State University (Bemidji, MN). Currently, she lives in St. Paul, MN with a smart little dog and a weird little cat. They’re nice.
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5 Replies to “artistic themes V: fairy tale iconography”
I think there’s also something to be said about the quality of the escape you can get from a fairytale. I love the art. I love fairy tale illustrations too, especially when they’re not what you’d expect.
Gorgeous work, very innovative
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Thank you so very much.
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I think there’s also something to be said about the quality of the escape you can get from a fairytale. I love the art. I love fairy tale illustrations too, especially when they’re not what you’d expect.
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Very good point.
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