JEALOUSY BEADS

JB Berkow who is well known for her realistic paintings of European landscapes has reverted back to her first love of figurative painting. Since JB is also a published poet, she decided to create a series based on one of her own poems titled “The Jealousy Beads.” She chose this poem because of its deliciously penetrating and irreverent imagery. The poem and the paintings are a dark and brooding tribute to one of the artist’s favorite poets, Edgar Allan Poe. The woman portrayed in the paintings is the ‘Priestess of Jealousy.’ The monkeys are her familiars like the cats that witches use to do their bidding. Scorpions represent the venom that poisons the mind of a jealous person. The skulls represent death which can result if the toxicity of jealousy goes unchecked. Other imagery is taken straight out of the poem. The background is created digitally utilizing the poem text and glass beads sewn into the canvas. This rich mixed media surface is a great foil for JB’s meticulously oil painted subjects.