Briar Rose

Fluid Acrylic Background with Oil-Painted Figures on Wood (Diptych)

48” x 48”

This diptych draws from the folklore origins of Sleeping Beauty, reinterpreted through a surreal symbolic lens. Layered fluid acrylic textures create an unstable atmospheric ground, while elongated figures and archetypal forms emerge in oil, suggesting a theatrical narrative suspended between dream and consequence. The spinning wheel anchors the composition as a symbol of fate, control, and cyclical power.

In her storybook-inspired works, Colette Aimée explores the search for moral meaning within traditional narratives. Rather than retelling the tale, she examines what lies beneath it. Early versions of Briar Rose present a deeply unsettling structure—power without accountability, innocence without agency, and resolution without true justice.

This work reflects on that contradiction. Decorative surfaces and theatrical characters mask darker psychological themes, questioning how stories soften or conceal uncomfortable truths over time. The figures exist within a suspended moral space, where beauty and brutality coexist and meaning must be constructed rather than inherited.

“A moral of complete corruption of mind and body without accountability or remorse.

Society cloaks animalistic tactics behind garments of meaning.”