Jackie Icon, oil and encaustic

Here is the second one is the series of "Modern Icons".

I made these double triptychs in the year 2000 using oil and encaustic. I painted the figures in oil. (This was before I figured out how to paint figures in encaustic.) I then carved through the encaustic to reveal the colors or gold leaf underneath.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis was another women the country turned into an icon. Gold upon gold surrounds the image of Jackie O. My research into her life portrayed her as a woman to whom money was of utmost importance. Her poise and regal manner echoed her education, style, and breeding. Jacqueline spoke several languages and understood the importance of the arts. She was one of the first persons in the white house who wished to bring the visual, musical and performing art into the presidential home and to the American people.

On the right panel, we see Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of beauty and and good fortune blessing Jackie with great abundance and lasting beauty. The left panel is the goddess Kali, the representative of death and rebirth who signifies the dark contrasts that plagued Jackie's life.

After the serene and balanced front of the icon, our senses are shaken with the bloody and rather dreadful back. Here I have collaged images of Jackie's life starting with her as a pampered child; the inauguration of John Kennedy, Jackie's in widow's mourning, all the Kennedy family, her children and finally Onasis. I covered the collaged images with red and pink encaustic giving the impression of blood.

detail of icon