Flowers are used to represent an emotional response to life events – death, birth, celebration, commiseration, joy. Floral tributes are a tangible representation of emotion; an expression of love, grief, shock and empathy. They are spontaneous and almost immediate. There is no planning or strategy involved, they evolve and grow without government intervention, planning permits or permission given. There are no rules or instructions about how to offer a tribute, they are a direct expression of the voice of the masses with more emotional power than any other means of mass communication.
This series seeks to express the power of the flower through a series of imagined works that appear suspended as if specimens in a museum display case. These are not gentle, pretty works but rather through colour and dramatic movement, they express the communicative power of a single bloom.
Strong contrasting colours are used to express the doubled sided nature of a floral offering – there is joy in the giving but often sorrow around the event. The use of transparent paints seeks to retain a sense of fragility.
Artists throughout history have painted flowers in still lifes or in landscapes. Georgia O’Keefe is quoted as saying “When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, its your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else”. This series in not about the flowers themselves but about the emotional impact of both giving and receiving.
29 September – 16 October
Art at Linden Gate
Opening Sunday 1 October 2-4 pm
899 Healesvill-Yarra Glen Rd,
Yarra Glen, Victoria.