Rabbit and Flower Painting

Hiding in the dim light, The hand was stretched open Satisfying their growing appetite. This is one of a number of paintings where I was exploring the symbolism of rabbits and flowers because I find their combination especially evocative, awakening in me memories formed during relationships relating to love and sexuality. My aim was to create paintings that would have a similar effect on the viewer. More about ‘Flower and Rabbit’ painting series: An interaction between a personified rabbit and a flower/woman amalgam is rather implicit way to bring up human romantic relationships, yet it is a significant aspect of my paintings. Interpretations can be discovered by analysing each of them like dreams; that is if one shares Freud’s perspective that dreams reveal a subject’s unconscious wishes. In other words, according to psychoanalytical theory, we discover our desires by subjectively unveiling the seemingly bizarre narratives and symbols of our dreams. Furthermore, perhaps by searching for feminine expression in flower forms and the medium of paint, I am influenced by the archetype image of a woman present in the collective unconscious that was described by Carl Jung. I see my works as an allegorical expression of love, desire and sexuality hiding behind innocent fairy-tale-like imagery. I am aware viewers form their own interpretations from their own subjectivity, thus I avoid fixing any specific symbolic meaning to the motifs. In fact, I aim for an ambiguity, which allows me to have a conversation with the history of painting. There is humour to be found in the incongruity of a cute bunny with a flower in relation to the seeming dignity of fine art, oil on canvas and dramatic dark backgrounds after artists such as Caravaggio as well as the serene calmness of still life paintings by Chardin. This high/low clash is in part the subject of my work, which verges on being as pretty and sentimental as kitsch. While occasionally I do become sentimental about my romantic pictures, often I utilise kitschy features with a sense of irony which not only acts to liberate the image from the weight of high art but is also an invitation to playfully embrace human weaknesses. My attitude is similar to that of contemporary artist Jeff Koons who exhibits objects (such as his Banality series) derived from contemporary culture that are considered by many as repulsive and vulgar, yet the artist displays them next to other admirable works of art as if there is nothing to be ashamed of - no need to reject that which is part of the human condition. I realised that there are myriad divergent ways to describe human emotions through a rendering of rabbits and flowers, as well as portrayals of their interaction. I am particularly enjoying fantasising about these ‘dreams’ that are being enriched by an intentional dialogue with the history of painting and an inexhaustible potential of the medium. Price can be negotiated.