RECENT WORK: DANGEROUS BEAUTY

This collection of images express the physical prowess of the plants and the idea of attraction and repulsion thorough a variation of art media. I focus on the visual elements that create an attraction to each plant, whether it is the alluring colors, the intoxicating shape of leaves or delicate line quality within the outline of the bloom that produces the seed that could rot the gut of a grazing cow. The comparison I exhibit in these works is between the innate beauty in nature (physical as in the plants and human nature that desires to be surrounded by beautiful things) and the actuality of its toxicity. While the images intentionally illustrate and glorify the toxic plants, the work relates to and contrasts with our base attraction to beautiful things, while as a whole body of work I use it to promote caution. My empirical research proves that the affectation of one seeking fulfilling pleasure through beauty alone, will only stir repulsion, if not the death of one’s soul. The quest to fulfill one’s life with beauty without nourishing substance is typically derived from one’s lack of knowledge followed by poor judgment or denying the existence of danger that waits below the surface of what we consider beautiful.