Botanica Hereditas- Soon at the Principle Gallery, Alexandria VA
I had an inheritance from my father,
It was the moon and the sun.
And though I roam all over the world,
The spending of it's never done.
― Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls
The new painting above is 16" by 12" on aluminum panel and is part of a small group of similar pieces that I am calling the Botanica series. Each of these paintings in this series are simply constructed with sections of stems or trunks or vines rising up through the picture plane and bisecting a shaft of light that fades into color at both sides.
The plants themself are imagined. I didn't want to rely on faithfully replicating nature, as magnificent as it is in its original form. This is mainly because I am not a botanist and, outside of but a few, have never been able to hold the details and names of most plants and trees for very long in my mind. I have to be constantly retold, year after year, the name of this or that plant. So, any resemblance in these created organisms to reality is coincidental, not intended in any way.
There's a sort of liberation in this. Not having to compete with what is real allows the viewer to see what is before them without the prejudice of knowledge, to judge it on its own merits.
Hey, that sounds pretty good. I'll think I'll keep that line for use in the future since it applies to much of my other work as well.
This particular piece is titled Botanica Hereditas-- Botanical Inheritance. I saw the dead tree trunk here as what is left behind for future generations, a structure on which they can build on and rise. Here that inheritance is literally a structure that supports the subsequent growth. The thicker vine uses the structure merely as guide and rises much on its own while the thinner vine clings closer to the inherited trunk, needing its support in order to continue moving upward.
It is all set against a backdrop of chaotic and slashing colors, symbolizing the peril and chaos against which all life is set. We spend much of our existence in seeking order out of this chaos and often find it first and sometimes solely in the supportive structures provided by family.
Our inheritance.
Botanica Hereditas is part of my 23rd annual solo exhibit at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, this year titled Depths and Light, which opens Friday, June 3, 2022.
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