A new painting, Still Life with Passiflora , executed in egg tempera & oil on panel, will be appearing this month in the Vanguard Invitational Group Exposition at the Outré Gallery in Melbourne, Australia.

Still Life with Passiflora. 11” x 14”. Egg tempera & oil on panel. 2021

In the painting tradition of the Memento Mori, ‘Still Life with Passiflora’ visually elaborates on the eternal theme of impermanence. The tendrils of allegory are followed from gestation, emergence, fruition, entropy, Passion, and ultimately moribund decomposition, before beginning anew. Spacial and metaphorical relationships between these cyclical stages are examined in detail throughout the image.

The composition was painted predominantly from life in the studio using physical props as references. A number of flora and fauna, living and nonliving, make appearances therein, including the following: Passiflora caerulea, Prunus domestica, Gallus gallus domesticus, Calothorax lucifer, Cyanocitta stelleri, Rosalia funebris, Tetramorium caespitum, Pyrrharctia isabella, & Lymantria dispar.

The exhibition, which features a roster of international artists, opens September 10, 2021 and runs through October 3, 2021. Outré Gallery. 319 Smith Street, Fitzroy, VIC 3065, Australia.