Description

Oil on stretched canvas

52 x 83 cm

Flowers & Filigree is an oil on canvas painting, measuring 52cm x 83cm, that emerged spontaneously from a period of personal difficulty. It is a visual anchor, a testament to the human need for beauty and comfort amidst chaos. The work centers on a cow skull, an object deeply rooted in the artist’s farm upbringing and personal psyche, crowned with vibrant fynbos flowers. Across the surface, delicate filigree weaves, acting as a visual metaphor for synthesis.
Rooted in personal mythology, this painting is a direct dialogue between life and death – a complex layering of organic and symbolic forms that speaks to grief, memory, and resilience. The cow skull, a relic
from the artist’s childhood on a farm, serves as both a memento mori and a vessel of memory. It embodies ancestral ties to land, animal, and maternal presence, echoing the artist’s mother’s deep connection to the earth and the enduring strength of grandmothers past.
The interwoven fynbos flowers, painted while a beloved friend was still alive, now carry the weight of their passing by suicide. Yet the flowers remain vibrant within the composition, a testament to hope and the
unbroken cycle of nature. The ornate filigree motifs act as connective tissue – delicate yet resilient – symbolizing the intricate process of weaving together grief, comfort, memory, and loss into a cohesive whole.
The loose, gestural brushwork reflects the raw, unpolished emotional landscape of its creation – a time when psychic wounds felt open. Yet within this rawness emerges an act of psychic integration: the
transformation of impermanence into a tapestry of enduring connection. Drawing on both vanitas traditions and contemporary explorations of the embodied psyche, Flowers & Fligree invites viewers to contemplate how beauty persists in the remnants of life, and how the patterns of existence continuously synthesize our deepest sorrows with our most cherished memories.