There are moments when art refuses to stay on the canvas — when it spills into form, matter, and light. For artist Jaya Vig, that moment arrived with Pablo Picasso’s Girl Before a Mirror. The 1932 masterpiece, painted in the heart of Picasso’s most experimental period, portrays the haunting duality of a woman facing her reflection: youth versus age, confidence versus insecurity, the seen and the secret.
At JV Candle, Jaya saw not just a painting, but an invitation — a chance to turn reflection itself into something tangible. What would it mean to feel Picasso’s tension, to translate that emotional geometry into the slow language of wax and flame? This question became the soul of her latest Picasso inspired candle art — a one-of-a-kind creation that lives somewhere between sculpture, painting, and ritual.
Translating Emotion Into Wax
Picasso’s muse, Marie-Thérèse Walter, gazes into a mirror that both reveals and distorts. Her features appear radiant and whole in one half, dark and fragmented in the other. Jaya approached this visual paradox not as an observer, but as a participant. “I wanted the candle to breathe the same emotional air,” she said — “to hold light and shadow in equal measure.”
The resulting dimensional candle is a sculpture designed to be seen from every angle. Two of its sides remain smooth and pure, representing the untouched exterior we show to the world. The other two sides erupt into color, texture, and form — fractured geometry echoing the raw inner landscape of Marie-Thérèse’s mind.
When unlit, the piece appears almost solemn, its surface quietly hiding what lies within. But once the wick is set alight, something remarkable happens: shadows flicker across the curves, pigments deepen, and the illusion of reflection comes alive. Flame and wax conspire to recreate the rhythm of thought itself — shifting, dissolving, reforming.
The Language of Geometry and Flame
Jaya’s handcrafted candle rejects the notion of a single viewpoint. Much like Picasso’s cubist experiments, it demands movement — it wants to be walked around, examined, experienced. Lines intersect, shapes unfold, and planes of color transform as the light changes.
Her artistic choices were deliberate homages to the original painting:
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The split face rendered in both profile and front view — two identities coexisting.
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The almond-shaped eye stretched into an empty ellipsoid, both alert and absent.
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The soft olive skin replaced by lilac wax, whispering of mortality.
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The golden hair in the mirror fading into green — a symbol of envy and decay.
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The vertical imbalance of the breasts, a subtle scar of imperfection.
Through wax, Jaya re-tells Picasso’s language of disquiet. Yet, she does so with warmth — literally. The candle’s flame softens every edge, reminding us that even in distortion, there is tenderness.
A Dialogue Between Time, Form, and Perception
Jaya’s process was deeply meditative. As she layered pigment over wax, she imagined the woman before the mirror — poised, contemplative, perhaps afraid of what she might find. Every brushstroke became an act of empathy, every sculpted ridge a heartbeat.
Her workshop smelled faintly of vegan wax, earth, and pigment. Music played low. The rhythm of her work was slow and deliberate — each layer poured, cooled, and carved until the texture of the face emerged like memory itself. “I wasn’t just recreating an image,” she explains. “I was holding a conversation with a reflection that never answers.”
This intimacy is what defines JV Candle’s sculptural wax art. It is not designed for mass production or replication. Each piece carries its own heartbeat — its imperfections, its story, its quiet defiance of uniformity.
Material Integrity and the JV Candle Ethos
Behind the beauty lies material philosophy. Jaya works exclusively with additive-free vegan wax, chosen for its purity and clean burn. The vessel — a raw, unsealed concrete base — grounds the ethereal artwork in earthy realism. The contrast between cold concrete and warm flame mirrors the painting’s tension between body and soul.
Every JV Candle piece is built around the triad of artistry, authenticity, and impermanence. The moment it is lit, the sculpture begins to change — melting, shifting, evolving. Time becomes part of the artwork. “The burn is the performance,” Jaya often says. “You don’t lose the art when it melts — you witness it becoming.”
This philosophy challenges traditional notions of collecting. In a world obsessed with preservation, JV Candle invites participation. To own one is to become part of its fleeting beauty — to light it is to accept transience as art.
The Legacy of Light
Jaya’s Picasso inspired candle art is more than an aesthetic object; it is a bridge between two artists separated by nearly a century. Picasso shattered the illusion of fixed perspective; Jaya extends that rebellion into the realm of sensory experience.
As the candle burns, the geometry shifts. The sharp edges blur. The reflection consumes itself. What remains is neither Picasso’s painting nor Jaya’s sculpture, but something in between — an ephemeral dialogue between vision and time.
In many ways, this creation encapsulates the essence of JV Candle: the pursuit of meaning through material. The brand’s work doesn’t chase perfection; it embraces process. Every handcrafted candle is a fragment of story, an artefact of emotion, and a celebration of the imperfect beauty that defines human creation.
Art That Lives, Breathes, and Transforms
As the final layer cooled, Jaya stepped back to look at her creation — the candle’s surface gleaming faintly under soft light. It wasn’t flawless, nor was it meant to be. Within its lines and colors lay a quiet dialogue — a meditation on how we see ourselves and what we choose to hide.
Each JV Candle piece is one of one. It will never be remade, never mass-produced. For collectors and admirers of fine art, this singularity is what transforms a candle into legacy.
When you light it, you’re not just burning wax — you’re awakening story, history, and reflection. The flame doesn’t destroy the art; it completes it.
Discover the purity of flame and form in JV Candle’s collection of art-inspired candles — where every handcrafted piece turns reflection into light.