Empusia

These paintings are based on Empusae, mythological Greek shape-shifting demons who preyed on men. they are also inspired by The empusium, a feminist 'horror' novel with an invented word as a title and links to Mann's The Magic Mountain by Booker prize winner Olga Tokarczuk. The shape my empusia often take is that of female bird-monsters, dripped in divergent directions to lend dynamism. Empusae were sometimes described as vampire women, hence the wings.