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Arts: Flower paintings have something to hide

Pamela Wolfe, Nature StudyArtis GalleryUntil May 1For viewers of the television show “Rosemary and Thyme” Pamela Wolfe's latest exhibition “Nature Study” may provide further opportunities for enquiry into the secret life of flowers

John Daly-Peoples
Fri, 16 Apr 2010

Pamela Wolfe, Nature Study
Artis Gallery
Until May 1

For viewers of the television show “Rosemary and Thyme” Pamela Wolfe’s latest exhibition “Nature Study” may provide further opportunities for enquiry into the secret life of flowers.

The exhibition of large floral works is the most impressive show the artist has produced since beginning the series several years ago.

They consist of flower arrangements, some in vases or jugs set against a black background. They are generally smaller than previous works but they have a sophisticated design and the painterly skills on display are exceptional.

The painting might be thought of as just large versions of the floral pieces by artists such as Nancy Tichborne but Wolfe creates images which are more than just illustrations, they hint at another level of description and purpose.

Her works have associations with the Dutch still life paintings of the sixteenth and seventeenth where the groups of flowers and objects were seen as symbolic and taken together as encapsulations of Nature they could be viewed as metaphors and meditations on life.

Such paintings were built on the traditions of the language of flowers where the colours of flowers and individual blooms were given a meaning so that the rose could be read as symbolic of a chalice or Christ while the lily as the idea of birth or The Virgin.

Wolfe’s paintings could be interpreted in a similar fashion and there are indications that there is a purpose behind her selection of plants.

In “Whisper” ($19,500) the inclusion of an artichoke which traditionally has been seen as an aphrodisiac makes some sense as a when viewing the rest of the painting. With both new buds as well as fully opened flowers as well as a couple of lilies with their erotic orange stamens the work takes on a vaguely sensual tone.

The paintings are titled Blush, Shadow, Whisper, Rustle, Hush and Fade. They are all descriptions of moods or environmental condition, but the titles could be applied to any one of the paintings as all have those qualities.

They all have a sense of slight movement in the stillness and the idea of colour and light emerging out of the shadows.

In “Rustle” ($18,500) there appears to be an eerie light illuminating part of the work which is also reflected in the glass jug in which the flowers are placed. This gives a sense of the flowers being in a real space rather then merely set against a black background.

Her works also link to other artists who use photographic imagery in producing their work or allude to photographic techniques. The intensity of the colours she uses is more akin to the strong colours achieved with colour photography and she uses the out of focus technique which comes with photography such as the blurred image of the white flower in “Blush” ($15,500).

Like the German Gerhard Richter and Australian Tim McGuire, her paintings re-invent the subject and change the way we perceive them. They change from being ordinary everyday arrangements to compositions which display a sense of involvement and wonderment.

John Daly-Peoples
Fri, 16 Apr 2010
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Arts: Flower paintings have something to hide
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