Saturday, November 18, 2006

Vita Artificiale

The original idea was to depict something living and growing in a dead world. The background is influenced by Di Chirico with his distorted and dehumanized cityscapes. The orchid is a popular choice for flower paintings, but I also chose the orchid because even real orchids are so delicate, soft and perfect that they appear to be artificial. At the time of the painting I was reconstructing my life after a period of depression, and the image of a beautiful living thing which can flourish in a vacant city was an expression of hope – some flowers can bloom in the most hostile surroundings. Rather than use a simple painting of a flower growing out of concrete, I tried to make the stem more plastic and unreal by twisting it. I also decided to continue the artificiality by having the plant self-sufficient. The plant’s water comes out of a building like a city water main and the source of the plant’s sunshine almost grows out of its own earth. The background and the base of the flower are painted in flat tones, and the bloom itself and a part of the stem are mixed with acrylic medium to make them shine and stand out from their dull surroundings.

No comments: