Bambi is a body of work that unites my established medium, painting, with installation and video projection. Disney’s tale of the death of innocence, Bambi, brings forth childhood memory, composed, like surrealism, of fantasy and reality. In my interpretation of this classic, each in a series of four paintings on wood panel develops into the next. As in the film, a narrative unfolds in the relation of the images to one another.
True to the film version of this narrative, Bambi, the vulnerable fawn, and his mother, the ill-fated doe, are central characters in each painting. However, in a departure from the animated versions, mine are realistically portrayed north American white tailed deer. The third character, a crouching female figure, referencing Fischl’s scene V, from his 1994 body of work, alludes to the “death of painting”controversy. The action in the narrative, that of being hunted, evokes response from both the animals and the female figure. The characters dodge incoming arrows, conscious of the constant threat of death.
The bleached portion of wood panel on which the female figure is rendered bathes her in light, suggesting a tense separation between the figure and the scene to which she is privy. She witnesses the action and reacts to it ominous tone, but exists more as a specter then a participant.
In the video projection, the work resolve itself. The final painting of the four features a life-sized, orphaned fawn, curled up asleep. Projected onto the painting and blanketing the surrounding wall, the image of the female character rises slowly, triumphantly, from her crouched position and strides out of the scene. The female figure becomes animated and the larger than life, the embodiment of strategic survival and persistent strength.
Bambi explores new thematic territories as animals replace humans as subject and film narrative replace allegory. These shifting priorities parallel the tension and imbalance amongst the mediums. Using a photo-realistic painting style and engaging in surrealist ideology through composition and video projection, Bambi unites tradition and technology, fantasy and reality, and creates a visual language for that union.
Laurie Papou 2002
