Event Title
Deconstructing the Flower
Faculty Mentor
Elissa Auerbach, Crystal Wagner
Keywords
Elissa Auerbach, Crystal Wagner
Abstract
The practice of botanical illustration suggests the human compulsion to categorize and define elements in nature that otherwise exist beyond our control. We remove flowers from their original context and relocate them to vases or pots that we artfully arrange on tables and front porches for the purpose of decorating a space. Using oil on canvas, I deconstruct and reconstruct flowers, isolating individual colors and shapes. In small-scale paintings, my floral renderings exist alongside an index of color swatches to further distinguish physical properties of the specimens. These paintings serve as my references for larger works in which I reconstruct the color palettes of the original flowers and transform the specimens into abstractions. Indefinable forms in the abstractions ironically serve as inspiration for manmade works like fashion and architecture that exist within our control. Through deconstructing and rejoining elements of design found in botanical specimens, my presentation explores the notion that these properties of flowers serve as catalysts for aesthetic foundations in realms of artificiality.
Session Name:
Working Women, Wandering Wombs, the Verfremdungseffekt and the Flower: A Total Deconstruction
Start Date
4-4-2014 1:15 PM
End Date
4-4-2014 2:15 PM
Location
HSB 201
Deconstructing the Flower
HSB 201
The practice of botanical illustration suggests the human compulsion to categorize and define elements in nature that otherwise exist beyond our control. We remove flowers from their original context and relocate them to vases or pots that we artfully arrange on tables and front porches for the purpose of decorating a space. Using oil on canvas, I deconstruct and reconstruct flowers, isolating individual colors and shapes. In small-scale paintings, my floral renderings exist alongside an index of color swatches to further distinguish physical properties of the specimens. These paintings serve as my references for larger works in which I reconstruct the color palettes of the original flowers and transform the specimens into abstractions. Indefinable forms in the abstractions ironically serve as inspiration for manmade works like fashion and architecture that exist within our control. Through deconstructing and rejoining elements of design found in botanical specimens, my presentation explores the notion that these properties of flowers serve as catalysts for aesthetic foundations in realms of artificiality.