Colette

About the artwork

It all started with me wanting to do a piece to celebrate the female form, and women in general. I did a few versions of this nude and then kept this one, the one I was most happy with. At first she was just floating there, but I felt like I needed to give it a frame, so I created that box, which created some perspective, so she could sit rather than just float.

Some people see it as her breaking out of a box, which is fine with me. But to me, the position of her body suggests a kind of peace.

I love to look at Henri Matisse’s female nudes, including his paintings, but here, with the flatness of the colors and since there’s no texture, I see more of a connection to his cut paper pieces. I’m also quite drawn to the San Francisco Bay Area artist Margaret Kilgallen.
This figure seemed like a Colette, the famous French author, since she’s quite reminiscent of female liberation.