Saturday Is For Art: A New Butterfly & Old Butterfly

This little butterfly (top) came out of playing with a few different shapes for a Butterfly Flag. The original idea and design goes back to the mid 1990s when I made and gave a paper sculpture of the butterfly flag for a fund raiser at the Carnegie Arts Center. I even put one on a t-shirt. I wore my butterfly design t-shirt and I still do, but I guess not too many men would wear a butterfly on the front of their t-shirt. One of my favorite books is titled Papillon and was even made into a movie in 1973. Steve McQueen played the part of Henri Charriere, who at the age of 17 was convicted of murder in France and sent to the French Penal Colony known as Devil's Island. Charriere got the nickname Papillon because of the butterfly tattoo on his chest. Since his death in 1973, there has been much debate about whether all of the escape attempts were by Charriere or were stories he heard while on Devil's Island. Either way, the butterfly represents to me freedom, just as a butterfly is free to travel. The Monarch butterfly migrates between Mexico and the United States without a green card or passport, but please do not infer that I support illegal immigration. As the grandson of four Russian Jewish grandparents, I feel very fortunate to have been born here, and with my passport and a few dollars I can leave and come back like the Monarch butterfly.

Everyone have a nice and safe weekend, and visit an art museum.

Top: Butterfly Flag by F.D. Zigler, acrylic on carboard, 2011.
Bottom: Butterfly Flag on t-shirt by F.D. Zigler, mid 1990s.