Igorcreme 13/40 by J.J. L'Heureux, Venice, California, 1998

J.J. L’Heureux’s Etichette Series is a striking collection of collages incorporating traditional Italian fruit and cheese labels, known as etichette. While traveling through Italy, L’Heureux became fascinated by these vintage labels—artful remnants of a time before modern plastic packaging. The series began as a single collage, a gift for a host, but the enthusiasm it received inspired her to continue working with the hundreds of labels she had collected.

Each piece is composed on an under-painted surface, with the labels meticulously adhered using a distinctive knot stitch—a technique L’Heureux has employed since 1970. This method first appeared in her Woman’s Work series, drawing inspiration from the cubist collages of Picasso and Braque, whose work she encountered as a young artist at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Dimensions: 26 1/2” W x 30” H x 2” D