£7,250.00
Only 1 left in stock
Original Artwork — Only One Available.
Acrylics & oils on gesso’d, stretched canvas, hand-signed by the artist. Accompanied by a signed Letter of Provenance and an Explanatory Letter that places this work within the unfolding narrative of Otherwurlde.
Each original in this collection may be acquired either framed — with a design selected to complement the individual artwork — or unframed for those who prefer to commission their own presentation.
Complimentary delivery within mainland UK. Worldwide shipping arranged with care.
‘Enlightenment II’ returns to one of the most important ideas within Otherwurlde: that wisdom can arrive from the smallest and most unexpected of places.
First explored in 2023’s ‘Enlightenment’, the scene is both familiar and entirely new.
A bee arrives from somewhere beyond this world, carried safely within one of Otherwurlde’s mysterious bubbles. Waiting for her is a Dryad and an extraordinary gathering of African wildlife: giraffe, galago, pygmy hedgehog, meerkats, leopard and African wild dog.
Everything has stopped.
Predator and prey sit together. Nobody hunts. Nobody flees. Every eye is fixed upon the tiny visitor as the Dryad reaches forward and gently ‘dents’ the surface of the bubble with her fingertip.
She knows it won’t burst.
As Otherwurlde has grown, certain symbols have begun to acquire meanings of their own — and few are more important than the humble bee.
Whenever a bee appears within an Otherwurlde painting, its presence matters. It has become a bearer of wisdom: not knowledge acquired through learning or bestowed by authority, but something older, purer and more instinctive. A truth that exists whether we recognise it or not.
Perhaps that is why the bee feels so appropriate. Tiny, industrious and easily overlooked, it carries no outward sign of importance — yet the natural world depends upon it.
The creatures of Otherwurlde understand this.
What the bee has travelled so far to tell the Dryad, we deliberately leave unanswered. The message might be profound or mundane; comforting or difficult. The moment we tell you what she hears, however, the painting ceases to ask its question.
And perhaps that is what ‘Enlightenment II’ is really about.
We spend our lives searching for answers in increasingly complicated places, while sometimes failing to notice the quietest voices around us. Wisdom doesn’t always announce itself. Sometimes we simply have to recognise it when it arrives — and be prepared to listen.
The composition deliberately echoes the original ‘Enlightenment’, while allowing its world to expand.
The Dryad and her companions occupy one side of the painting, leaving the darkness around the bee unusually open. That negative space is important: amongst the elaborate armour, jewels, creatures and detail, the smallest character in the painting is given the greatest room to breathe.
As with Ann’s other original Otherwurlde paintings, the materials, surface and framing are considered as part of the finished work. Fine detail, subtle transitions of light and the extraordinary intricacy of the animals’ adornments reward close inspection, while the wider composition is designed to command a room from a distance.
‘Enlightenment II’ is both a companion to the 2023 original and the continuation of an idea we expect to revisit again.
Different Dryad. Different creatures. Different corner of the world.
But the bee still comes.
And when she does, Otherwurlde listens.
