My Beautiful Wickedness (Wizard Of Oz)
Regular price £445.00 Save £-445.00This piece explores the character traits of the most destructive and powerful person within the story - the Wicked Witch of the West, a lady so full of rage that is born out of envying neglect that the fires still burn as fiercely as ever but does she still have a heart? Her blood dried up long ago and she knows any tears shed would wound her, possibly even be fatal if the floodgates were allowed to open. What we see of the wicked witch of the west is a woman scorned, an absolute bitch with terrifying powers who holds so much hatred towards her opposing sister that she didn’t shed a single tear when she was flattened, or actually was that just her protecting herself? Is Dorothy simply a scapegoat for something much deeper and older? There is talk of the wicked witch of the west falling foul to her fathers favouritism as a young girl with her sister being the apple of his eye - there continues the green theme again! What actually happened to make her skin literally turn green with envy?
For someone to be that full of hate and hurt they would have lost all sense of context and reasoning way back, she knows not what she does surely? Has her wickedness become a genuine art form for her? Are there any human qualities left under that shell of carbon? Does she still have a soul, a single strand of hope to see her be saved? Or is she too far gone? What this piece will does is take on a similar style and narrative to my 2016 ‘High Ho’ piece where I showed Snow White is a much darker light but where there were signs of innocence, fragility and hope and that is what I have strived to achieve with this piece. I originally planned to create a roomset but chose to focus on the throne to portray a stronger sense of power and dominance, a setting for where plans and spells are formulated, or a place to sit within her shell where she waits and 'bleeds'.
There is a window into the world outside through her crystal ball that rests against her throne, look closely and you will see the same scene as featured in ‘The Long And Winding Road’. The detail within the piece suggests that she is wrestling with her demons whilst retaining what is left of any good, is she too far gone? The decor is an intriguing mix of brutal objects and soft furnishings that glow green and subtle detailing that hints at a personality trapped. The aim was to create a real open-ended piece where certain objects make you question what has already happened possibly, the water? the slipper placed within a box that sat empty for so long? There is definitely more than meets the eye here and again something to consider in general. Just because someone can cause carnage doesn’t always mean that they are any less fragile underneath or vulnerable to further damage, more likely they just need setting free from the spell that has been cast.