"Spring" by Amanda Kindregan

Image reposted with the permission of the artist. Learn all about Amanda Kindregan and her work at her website here.

I wanted to write about this image following Waldo Chase's "Fawn" because, while they are both woodcuts of fawns, the differences are both startling and amusing. Chase's fawn is delicate and elusive, while this one is bright and center stage. Of course Chase's is simply more naturalistic, while this fawn is cartoonish and anthropomorphic, with its chin raised in a flashy, smiling manner. But while Chase's image has a subtle beauty that leads the viewer into quiet contemplation, Kindregan's fawn has its own appeal. Sort of in the way that an adult woman in a babydoll dress and pigtails is sexy.

This fawn is like a teddy bear, or most other wild animals fashioned into cute toys for children. It is cheery and plump. And it is rather pleased with its own existence, though it is made explicitely for you and me, the viewers, or in the case of toys, for the children. This is an aid for imaginative play. The real animal is merely an inspiration, a sort of totem for the human spirit that owns it. A real fawn would never strike such a pose, just as a real bear would rip the child to shreds. But there are aspects to these animals' appearances that captivate us - soft fur, a graceful silhouette - and drive artists and toy-makers to exaggerate and stylize them and then toss in human qualities to the neglect of the true beast.

I delight in looking at this proud fawn who rests in a unnaturally-bright, green field surrounded by playful white daisies. She does indeed feel like spring. At least the best of spring. Sure, she is optimistic, a little silly - perhaps even childish - but she is also a lovely lie that brings out the inner child in any adult willing to let her.