John Wilde

(1919-2006)

Sleight of Hand 12 1/8 x 10 1/8in (30.8 x 25.7cm)

Footnotes

Provenance
Oliver Burr Jennings, New York.
Constance Jennings Ely, sister of the above, by descent, 1968.
By descent to the late owner, daughter of the above, 1991.

Literature
R. Panczenko, T.F. Wolff, Wildeworld: The Art of John Wilde, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1999, p. 99, pl. 60, illustrated.

In Slight of Hand, John Wilde masterfully demonstrates his abilities as an artistic poet and offers a tantalizing glimpse into a fascinating, imaginary and private world. Wilde's paintings are complex and rich in content with each detail minutely and painstakingly rendered. The fanciful and fantastic subjects of his paintings emanate almost entirely from Wilde's imagination and allude to people, objects, and events to which Wilde feels deeply connected. In Slight of Hand, a male hand intrudes from above holding three strings that hold an enigmatic and intellectually stimulating handmade mobile. The three strings are sewn through a series of colorful buttons that branch off into three directions. Tied with twisting knots to the mobile is a lemon with a square portion of skin removed, a spotted bird's egg, and a torn sheet of paper with writing that has been partially obscured. Though these motifs appear in Wilde's other works, their symbolism and narrative complexities remain mystified and his titles offer little assistance with interpreting the meaning behind these objects. Recalling the techniques of both northern and southern Renaissance masters out of interest for their formal qualities, Wilde uses line to contain color, applies transparent layers of glazes for rich and subtle modeling, and employs a linear or aerial perspective to organize his compositional elements. Wilde, however, finds ways to contradict the illusion of real space caused by linear or aerial perspective through the use of various creative techniques and challenges the principals of realism to make his world immaterial. The hand in the present work contradicts the linear perspective of the piece, as it does not logically relate to the space it performs in. Furthermore, he attempts to defy the laws of gravity through the use of two small ribbons or paper that appear to float and the unnatural way the weight of the mobile appears to move in space.