Brine

I was researching the folklore around St. Nicholas and came across the story about him resurrecting three young people who had been killed and put in brine barrels, according to some lore, they were going to be cooked and eaten. Nicholas restored these young people to life through his faith. I have depicted them here as three wet specimens, but also as pickled cherub figures that are frozen and dreaming in a state of lament. When I began this painting I had recently received some very bad news. I was about to lose someone, a friend who was living with a very aggressive brain cancer. I had not seen her in several months because of her treatment and because her time was so precious, it belonged to her family. I sat down and made these little envoys, thinking of her.