Chrysomallos – Laurie Young

Artist

This piece started with the idea of death fragility and beauty. I’ve long been fascinated with all forms of nature and transformation.

I began by shellacking butterfly wings onto a rams skull, with the intention of connecting the process of the death of a caterpillar when its body liquefies and dies in the chrysalis only to be reborn as an exquisite butterfly, this blurring the boundaries between life and death. I decided to gild the horns of the ram and create a lush glass garden, which them put me in mind of how the ram is venerated in almost all cultures as a mythical beaust. Chrysomallos was the child of Poseidon, a fabulous flying ram creited with divine ambition as well as the human mother’s mortal limits. His was the fabled Golden Fleece Jason and the Argonauts sought to prove his worthiness to rule. I finally incorporated one of my Grandmother’s brooches as a tribute to the magnificent woman who was instrumental in feeding my passion for art, traveel, adventure and beauty.