Catamount, 2003
oil on wood
69” x 20½”
Courtesy of Bill Maynes Gallery, New York, NY

The images that recur in Irene Hardwicke Olivieri’s paintings inhabit a landscape where human and animal life intersect, intermingle and sometimes collide. In Catamount, the man with the head of a mountain lion, seems to possess a keen awareness, instinct and inner fierceness.  He is surrounded by aphrodisiac plants and text in microscopic letters describing the many uses of plants for love, courtship and sexual excitement going back to the Middle Ages.
www.irenehardwickeolivieri.com
www.billmaynes.com