Description
‘Song of the Dead’ by Sonya Palencia
Artist: Sonya Palencia
Title: ‘Song of the Dead’
Medium: Oil on wood panel
Dimensions: 14″ x 11″
Framing: Framed in Onyx wood frame with gold leaf veining (frame size: 20″ x 17″)
Year of Creation: 2019
About the Artwork:
“I’ve always been fascinated by the Victorian Spiritualism movement that swept 19th America and Europe. The heightened pursuit of science and technology during the industrial revolution ignited a ravenous appetite to discover the seemingly unattainable. Women surpassed conventional religious practices and began seeking “The great beyond” to communicate with the afterlife and welcome paranormal occurrences. Thanks the invention of photography, we are left with such bizarre, yet extremely captivating imagery documenting their death mementos and staged visitations. Despite the failed attempts, the movement was not deterred and the quest continues to this day.
The Song of the Dead is about the lost portrait that successfully captured the unseen”. – Sonya Palencia
About the Artist:
(Artist Bio)
Sonya Palencia is a painter, illustrator, and sculptor, whom utilizes old world aesthetics to illuminate the peculiar. A native of California, Sonya embraced art at as a child using the intrigue of nature and local history to fuel her passion. She graduated from the Art Center College of Design (Pasadena, CA) with distinction in Film & Fine Art, and served 10 years in the film industry as a designer and sculptor. With an adoration of German Romanticism, Czech and Mexican surrealism, she has traveled abroad to research the classical arts and traditional folklore. She and her husband (fellow artist Jeff Nentrup) currently pursue their fine art on a ranch nestled within the inspiring Californian Los Padres National Wilderness.