Apollo and the Metamorphosis of Daphne
Terracotta, tree, branches, bowl, resin, flowers, acrylic nails, rope, river stones, cement, mixed media
2021
This site-specific sculpture was inspired by Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne, a masterpiece seen at the Barberini in Rome, during the trip that gave birth to this exhibition.
Apollo is the Greek god of music, poetry, and art - logic, rationality, and our cultural methods of compartmentalizing. Being shot with an arrow from Eros due to a tiff, he becomes obsessed with the river nymph Daphne. He attempts to rape her, and she flees, choosing to become a laurel tree rather than submit to his will. Daphne had spurned many lovers, instead roaming the forests and committing herself to virginity.
Here, Daphne has become almost entirely a tree. Her body is made with wood that was sitting in Tulis’ garden, a place she shares with a carpenter. The stones were collected by the river Lek during her daily walks and the branches clipped from a knotwilgen in a friend’s yard. All material was found at hand, which is an important part of the artist’s work. Daphne’s hair rests in the basin of water that represents her father, the river god Peneus, who transformed her to a laurel tree to allow her to escape her pursuer.
Awakening – A Very wet Tolstoy
Watercolor and Ink on Paper
2016
112x162 cm
This painting was painted four years ago and since then was hung above the artist’s bed. It’s a peaceful painting, she’s at rest. She’s aware but also very much inside of her inner world. It is a very sensual painting yet not sexual. The woman in the bath is part of the artist’s insect realms, where characteristics of bugs are mixed with humans, resulting in a more sensitive species. The feet of the bath were inspired by a bronze detail from a church in Venice. The ring is the artist’s family crest and the Delf blue tiles are an autobiographic story. This painting was made at a time when Tulis was reading a lot of Russian literature.
Orlando
Oil on Linen
2020
280x120 cm
Unavailable
Orlando was inspired by the many reclining Venus figures from the Renaissance, especially Titian’s painting Venus of Urbino from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. The concept began as a small watercolor and the curators encouraged a biger version of it. This is the first oil painting that the artist has done in eight years, a technique that she’s eager to explore further. While painting the large version she listened to Orlando by Virginia Woolf. The idea of a character who embodies both the perfect man and the perfect woman and who reaches from the Renaissance to Modern Times is very much what this piece is about.
Lobster Lady (Study for Orlando)
Watercolor and Ink on Paper
16x50 cm
Unavailable
