Art In Response to Covid-19

“Warning”
Mixed Media 12”H x 6” Diameter.
By Leon White

This sculpture came about from a collector through Karla Matzke Gallery, who requested that some of Karla’s collection of artists create their representation of the Covid-19 virus. For

me, it was utilizing the form of one of my small bird sculptures. Her suggestion was, a crow wearing a face mask? As we are in the midst of, and feeling the pains of this global pandemic, my first thought was “YUCK, what a horrible idea!”. Inquiring why she would want such a thing, she shared that knowing this too will be a historical event she wanted this reflected in the artwork in her collection.

Giving this some more thought, I remembered that artists have captured major natural or manmade world events throughout history.  Over the next week I wondered, “How can I depict this without being vulgar and negative?”

I chose to use a yellow canary wearing a facemask to warn that the virus is blooming, just as when caged canaries were used as alarms in the old mining days to indicate poisonous gases (the workers could try to escape if the canary dropped dead). My little birds are usually looking at something on another branch, such as a bug or flower. Since the Coronavirus looks like some kind of a seed pod in bright colors, I chose to use its shape as flowers in various stages of blooming. Scrounging around in my junk drawers (don’t all artists have them?) I tried to figure out what I could use to make this. Finding the right materials was not a simple feat. Then, I felt the blossoms alone were not interesting enough. The sculpture needed some leaf forms to make it a plant, but an imaginary sci-fi virus plant would not have green leaves. AH HA! Thinking about the South American poisonous dart frogs with their bright colored bodies to warn predators NOT TO EAT THEM, I painted these leaves in shades of blues along with the bright blossoms as a metaphor for the same. DO NOT SNIFF THESE!