Choke

Nothing is straightforward when we stop to think carefully about the meanings that are generally portrayed onto objects. When we proffer flowers to a loved one, the message we wish to convey is love and the beautiful corolla of petals is the symbol of that love. But the delicacy and quick decay of the corolla betrays the darker side, that flowers also signify death.

This painting comes from my series of "Fleurs du Mal" where the traditional genre of flower painting has been ruptured through the use of nauseous colour to function as a metaphor for the death of painting.