Art Interpretation - Blog Posts

sillymodezeenith

3 months ago

a watercolor painting of a pale woman with black hair breastfeeding a baby. There is animal carcasses hanging in the background above a countertop. There is various animal products, meat, and eggs being processed. There's a meat cleaver sitting on a wood block and a small, spotted frog on the counter in front of the woman. The back wall is white tile, with a calendar hanging on the wall.

Esther Sarto. Butchershop Bliss. 2019. Watercolour and Gouache on 300gsm hotpressed Watercolour paper.

24 x 16 inches

I’ve been thinking about this piece for weeks. I keep coming back to it trying to figure it out. I’ve seen some discussion, but no interpretation has ever really resonated with me.

There’s nothing particularly uncanny about the woman or baby, the surroundings seem normal for them. The lighting is bright, the room is cluttered but not obscured. The meat frames them in, but I’m not sure if that feels like an oppressive force.

The surroundings are visceral, but not scary in any way. Despite the raw meat, there’s no blood in the room, It seems clean.

The only conclusion I can come to is it’s about survival, food, and eating. The baby breastfeeding vs the butchers room. That comes back to the title, though, which doesn’t make much sense to me in that context.

There’s also several feminist and class conscious readings you could do of this; but I’m still not sure.

Please help me figure it out, I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts on this piece!!!