The momentary beauty of Sage Vaughn's butterflies is palpable. These
impossibly lovely, delicate creatures appear to have magically landed or
violently crashed, oozing their colorful pigment like blood-stained
marks across the canvas. The dichotomy of these delicate and ephemeral
creatures co-existing over images of gritty urban life creates a
contrast that is layered, mysterious, and up for interpretation.
Vaughn's butterflies appear as choreographed nature-their drips echoing
his early beginnings as a graffiti artist. Sometimes juxtaposed against
the likes of mundane interiors, forests, or the Russian punk band Pussy
Riot, Vaughn's distinctive paintings create provocative relationships
between the built and natural environment. The effect is dreamlike and
almost hypnotic, as swarms of butterflies concurrently live and die in
graceful formations that are at once heart-breakingly beautiful and
sublimely melancholy.
Sage Vaughn is an LA-based painter and illustrator who is best
recognized for his wildlife series. Moustachioed, eccentric, and
consistent, Vaughn works in his studio from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and has
been quoted as an artist with a blue-collar work ethic. As a child,
Vaughn and his father, who was also a painter, would spend hours on end
at the LA Zoo sketching animals all day. As a teenager, growing up in
the San Fernando Valley in the late 70s and early 80s, Vaughn was
greatly influenced by the punk movement and graffiti art. Vaughn's
current Wildlives paintings focus on the juxtaposition and coexistence
of humans and animals, drawing comparisons between their inherent
liberty, freedom, and survival skills. He has had widely acclaimed solo
shows in New York, Geneva, and London and has been featured in a group
show at MOCA in LA, curated by the Beastie Boys' Mike D.
