Lilith

20” x 24” oil paint and mixed media on encaustic, 2023 August - collaboration with Anthony Walczak.

This piece is about Lilith, Adam’s first wife before Eve, who was made from the same soil as Adam. Thus, she believed that she was meant to be Adam’s equal. According to mythologies, she refused to be subservient to her husband and lay beneath him, and eventually left Eden to pursue her own independence. God punished her for her disobedience by killing one hundred of her children every day. 

Her beauty captivated the English poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti who said, “her enchanted hair was the first gold”, and Irish novelist James Joyce referred to her as “patron of abortions”. In most manifestations she represents chaos and seduction.

The piece is based on Tony’s sketch - we portrayed Lilith and her - somewhat consumed - lover bleeding flaming petroleum together, while Lilith is hauling at the moon (or apocalyptic sun?) like a predator. Despite their dark nature, their sprouting desires cannot resist aspiring towards the light.