archival record:
sculptural head-form vessel in dark terracotta. female face in repose — eyes closed, lips parted, features composed. the vessel is a head. the arrangement grows from it. parrot tulips, pink and white striped, upper center. blue poppy or anemone, upper left. large purple-gold iris form, upper right. cobalt blue anemone, right. pink tulips. yellow and orange orchid-form blooms, center mass. purple and violet flowers throughout. white clustered blooms. teal and cyan botanical elements. lavender and mauve scatter. small yellow accent blooms. dense green foliage. flat crimson-red ground — saturated, unmodulated, without recession. flat crimson tabletop continuous with the ground. pineapple, lower left. yellow-green grapes. purple plums. pear. gold grapes, center. watermelon, lower right. strawberries. green pear. blue-tinted grapes. peach. the fruit register is extensive — it surrounds the base of the vessel on all sides. the head rests among it.

chromatic inventory: flat crimson ground as total field — wall, table, and atmosphere collapsed into a single unbroken plane. the head-form vessel in dark terracotta reads as an excavated object against it. the arrangement erupts from the vessel in full chromatic range: blue, cobalt, purple, pink, yellow, orange, teal, white — every register activated simultaneously. the fruit does not frame the vessel. it buries the base of it. the face is the only still thing in the picture.

the head holds the flowers. the flowers do not hold the head.

filed under: rogue colorist. bloom. natura morta. contemporary floral painting. post-impressionist lineage. dutch floral inquiry. chromatic subversion. botanical morphology. head-form vessel. sculptural vessel. figurative vessel. still life tradition. abundance. vanitas.