(Unicorn with Wreath)
1989 by Bella Guella
Found 11/2012, Goodwill (183 and Metric)

Guella’s (Unicorn) creates a multi-layered version of the unicorn, historically a male symbol. Gulla’s interpretation is dewey-eyed and meek, indeed as harmless and androgynous as the lead singer in a boy-band (beloved, perhaps, because he occupies a liminal state, male without being masculine, approachable and harmless while still distant and unattainable).

The symbols of spring and life garland this beast, the brief and fleeting tokens of new life. Flowers wilt and fade, butterflies life for a scant few days and then vanish until the next year. It seems strange that these ephemeral things would decorate an immortal, legendary creature. Perhaps what is truly fading is the brief moment of childhood, when one could entertain the fancy of a harmlessly charming unicorn?