OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, November 15th, 6-8pm

Auxier Kline is pleased to present Floral Arrangements, a group exhibition including artwork by  ten contemporary artists whose pieces have been selected for this exhibition specifically for their depictions of flowers that investigate the variety of psychological connotations that are associated with floral imagery.  

Paintings and floral arrangements both utilize color, form, line, texture, and balance to create visually appealing compositions that convey emotions or themes.  The way colors interplay in a bouquet can mirror a painter’s palette, while the shapes and textures of flowers can inspire compositions on canvas.

Flowers have frequently served as a subject in paintings throughout art history; from 17th century Dutch still lifes that acted as meditations on impermanence, O’Keeffe’s intimate, sensual, and almost abstracted depictions in the 1930s, to Andy Warhol’s pop art depictions from the 1960s that used an appropriated photograph of hibiscus flowers to speak to his interest in originality, authorship, and commercial production in American society. Both paintings and floral arrangements are art forms that rely on the principles of design to evoke a wide range of emotions and meanings.  

The context of which flowers can be depicted psychologically in an artwork are much the same as the occasions for which floral arrangements are given to an individual.  They can be celebratory, such as for birthdays, a baby shower, Mother’s Day, a graduation, housewarming, or the opening of a theater production or art exhibition.  They can be for condolences and sympathy in the form of a funeral wreath.  They can be sent as “get well” wishes to an individual dealing with sickness or challenging time.  They can be seen as a romantic gesture on a first date, a wedding, anniversary, Valentine’s Day, a prom corsage or boutonnière.

Floral Arrangements brings together a variety of artworks whose creators have continued the art tradition of rendering flowers on canvas to capture and preserve a specific moment in time in the biorhythm of these impermanent blossoms, thus using the symbolism of the “flower motif” to investigate and depict the psychological, emotional, and physical life cycle that constitutes the human condition.