I have become increasingly fascinated with
hedgehogs since I first visited the United Kingdom in 2012. Soaking in the
endless green of England, the dense hedgerows, carpets of bracken, and
mysterious dark forests, it was not hard to imagine Mrs. Tiggywinkle (one of my
favorite Beatrix Potter Characters) busying herself in some dim and magical
corner. I was very fortunate to be able to make a behind-the-scenes visit to
Vale Wildlife Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre not far from where my
partner’s family lives in Tewkesbury.
There I learned of the plight of the hedgehog. With England’s ancient
hedgerows themselves endangered, human population growing, gardens made
dangerous with careless lawnmowers and hostile pets, and cars posing a constant
hazard, it is no wonder this facility cares for hundreds of injured animals
every year. How to honor these unique and precious creatures presented itself
as a very real and important challenge.

“Hedgerow” evolved out of my “Pattern”
series, in which animal subjects are pitted against a stamp-like, mass produced
image. In this piece, however, rather
than being presented in front of a patterned background, the hedgehog is
melded into the background pattern itself. The Pattern series explored
the notion of commodification of wildlife, reproductive capacity, and the
ubiquity of urban wildlife. It is in
this last sense that “Hedgerow” relates.
The removal of the animal subject from its natural habitat and its
recontextualizing in a stark, white space, underscores the ability of the
hedgehog to adapt to foreign and man-made environments. The serial nature of
the hedgehog “stamp” and the use of non-objective color further serve to pull
the animal out of context. Even within
this sea of colors, the two representationally “realistic” hedgehogs almost
become lost. The entry of one such
hedgehog from the right side of the painting and the exit of the other half of
its body to left lends the image a suggestion of constant, repetitive motion
like an old-fashioned zoetrope. This piece, “Hedgerow #2” is a smaller, more
intimate version of a larger, 30 x 30” piece I completed earlier.

Though they are generally well-liked,
hedgehogs, like all common- or once common- animals, suffer sometimes
from being overlooked. Their very familiarity works against them. As such, I decided to present this wonderful
little animal in an entirely new and fresh way.
Sometimes we can only truly see the familiar when it is made unfamiliar.