3E

3E (Grey Bride) is a figure profile of a woman wearing an elaborately designed headpiece worn by brides on their wedding day. In our day and age Brides come in all age brackets and sizes and somehow they all manage to look glowingly happy and mesmerisingly beautiful on their wedding day. The grey bride on this canvas has grey hair. It could have been dyed grey, and it could be natural, which is not uncommon if you marry late or remarry, which is more the fact that I intended to celebrate in this painting. It is just great when people want to get hitched and make the most of the time we have on planet Earth — as couples.

Except for her flesh tones and some gilded part of the silver and Swarovski-crystal jewellery, the composition has been kept very monochromatic in warm and cold greys. It is not quite ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’. As a part of the series chroma, the intention with this painting was partly to see how far greys could be pushed to set the particular mood that I would like. Even the background chosen is grey marble wall cladding.

If you check this with bridal wear sites, there is no limit as to the meanings and symbolic significance of colours, which again vary wildly from one tribal culture to the next. E.g. silver for instance, is ‘allegedly’ saying ‘Restrained wealth, glamour, andsophistication’. It further says, “I can afford it, but prefer not to flaunt it”. Grey is also imbued meaning, you would never have imagined. For it is “Modern, understated, retro-informed and sleek”.

You can view more paintings in the chroma series here.

Title/Titel/Titel/Títolo #3E, Acrylic and oil on canvas/ Akryl und Öl auf Leinwand/Akryl og olie på lærred/acrílico e óleo sobre tela 100x100cm, Year/Jahr/År/Ano 2018, anders dyhr