RESUSCITATORUM :: New Work by Rich Pellegrino

Artist's Statement

RESUSCITATORUM is Latin for "reinvigorate" or "refresh" and, in this exhibit, I attempt to breathe new life into the fairy tales, myths and literary classics of my youth.  I've painted a myriad of sleeping beauties, all clutching symbols and objects from their respective stories, inviting viewers to recollect these ladies of yore.

During my research for this show I was re-introduced to the European fairy tales by famed writers Charles Perrault, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, and Joseph Jacobs.  I also revisited some of Shakespeare's plays and the Bible.  Fables such as "Sleeping Beauty" and "The Girl Without Hands" inspired me to reinterpret these tales in new ways.  My thought was to simplify each into a single narrative portrait of the protagonist with ornaments gathered from her journey.  Shakespeare's Ophelia wears a dress made of the flowers she gave to her listeners just before her suicide.  Sleeping Beauty purposely stabs her hand with a spindle, ultimately causing her to fall into her deep sleep.  My modern-day Eve is eating BBQ (Adam's) ribs and texting as her snake charm necklace fits snugly around her neck.  And so on and so forth. 

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