Under the Ylang-Ylang Tree

How does it feel to be in a suffocating love? Sasha Katz explores such bittersweet experience with 'Under the Ylang-Ylang Tree', a digital artwork intensely inspired by the delicate pastel portraits of the 17th-18th century French artists Jean-Baptiste Perronneau, Jean-Jacques Bachelier and Marguerite Gérard. A golden-robed female figure attempts to kiss a riotous fluffy white cat under the green foliage of a ylang-ylang tree. The grainy texture combined with the soothing colour palette makes Katz's piece a deceiving portrait of love. Both the figures drown in the romantic idea of love as if they cannot escape the narrative of a peaceful relationship; the female subject, lost in her desire ...View all