Stephanie Wilde

American, b. 1952

Being Unbalanced
1983

Ink and acrylic on paper
30.125 x 46.625 x 1.75 in.
Gift of Driek and Michael Zirinsky
2020.3.19

Stephanie Wilde is known for her intricately symbolic drawings. A self-taught artist based in Idaho, Wilde explores the social, spiritual and contemporary issues in her work. Being Unbalanced is a piece from her first body of work, which explored the relationship between AIDS and the Black Plague. The strange long beaks of the figures allude to the masks worn by medieval doctors for protection. Yet even though the figures in Being Unbalanced wear these masks, they are in the throes of falling over, as if their facial protection worked not at all.

Detailed and lavish, Wilde’s art pairs critical commentary with her distinctive style. The power of Wilde’s work lies in the methodical research and layered symbolism she employs in her drawings, making them feel simultaneously historical and contemporary.

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This object has the following keywords:

• bird
• checker pattern - A bold geometric pattern of regularly placed alternating squares or lozenges of contrasting colors or textures.
• figure
• gold
• lines
• zigzags - Lines or bands composed of a series of chevrons.