Abstract Mother, Jayne Prell
Abstract Mother, Jayne Prell, 2023
The blue Slishy Slasher cries as she holds on to a younger red version of herself. Above them is a large bright orange face like a sun, its many arms reaching towards the slasher.
One of the final works of Jayne Prell, this artwork is perhaps one of her greatest achievements in experimenting with her new art style. As mentioned in previous articles, Jayne, having grown discontent with rubberhose styled artwork, moved away into the much more shape focused UPA style, which of course led to the infamous Slishy Slasher character.
This work is astonishing for both its use of color and the amount of detail contained within it; there are so many things happening at once in a single canvas and yet they flow together in a way that reads clearly to the viewer. The many hands of the sun are layered upon one another. It might be easy to assume they were duplicated and mirrored but upon closer inspection each one has been drawn individually.
The yellow and orange hues are broken up by the singular blue element in the drawing, the Slishy Slasher. Creating the feeling of oneself drowning in an ocean of fire, can colors hurt a person? In this illustration they are certainly presented as having the capacity for harm. A teardrop quickly evaporating within an inferno, and of course the Slishy Slasher is being robbed of something by the ritually Abstract Mother; various fiery hands reaching down to clutch and pluck away what we can assume is a younger more innocent version of the UPA killer.
In what can be found through posts online the abstract mother was said by Jayne to be “a malicious force, an embodiment of power imbalance, the ever changing shape of sadism.” A manifestation of every bully, abuser, mean spirited adult, etc. Something that “hurt people because it could and because it knows that nothing can fight back against it, displaying a twisted form of parental attention it takes glee in making the meek flinch and cower.”
All this of course could be applied to the artist's troubled home life, the ultimate rebuke towards her mother and a statement of what her life must have been like living in the same household as someone so monstrous. It is an expression of helplessness under the power of something so vast and so intense that you cannot hope to pull away from its orbit alone.