Poor Thing Triptrych – LIVE AUCTION

Poor Thing Grenache Triptych.
Only One. Dog, Cherub and Girl.  

Signed by James Jean

“Two or three things I know for sure, and one of them is that if we are not beautiful to each other, we cannot know beauty in any form.” 

― Dorothy Allison

“Who is he who will affirm that there must be a web of flesh and bone to hold the shape of love?”

― William Faulkner, “Beyond"
 

It was no surprise to me that James Jean created beautiful labels for me in the early 2000’s for a project called the Southern Gothic Wine Collection.  At the time he created three different triptychs. Two red wines and one white.  Southern Belle was the flagship, a big, rich tantalizing wine.  Poor Thing was a sexy, sensual grenache.  Diddley Bow, a racy, startling, electric white wine.  What was a surprise was that he created labels that captured Southern Gothic culture as if he had been born in the south.   

In 2008, I stopped making the triptychs and each wine is now bottled in one label, or one panel.  

I only have one complete triptych left and it is available now until 5pm PDT today, October 16, by auction.  Each bottle is signed by James Jean.  

James talks of “thwarted desire” and “sad romance” as themes that motivated him in creating these labels.  To me, James work is always about love; and usually a journey from a place of challenge, sadness, pain, disappointment, loss, but the vision of beauty is always present and the destination of love, is never far away.  These labels are early James Jean work, when these themes were very present and manifest in a direct way; though less complicated, layered and perhaps whimsical as his later work has developed.  But these early labels have an intensity that I associate with the work of a young artist. 

Southern Belle Triptych auction opening October 23. Two complete Triptychs.

Butter Club Coming Soon. Instagram: @thecolorofbutter

A Case for Baskets Basket sold out.  Pre-orders now available here.