Arden Gallery is looking to 2021 with hope and positivity with their January group show Floral Still Life, signifying unity and rebirth. This optimistic outlook has culminated in the gallery inviting their roster of 25-plus artists to participate in a show dedicated to floral still lifes. “Although this is an age-old theme,” says Zola Solamente, gallery owner, “the rejuvenating and uplifting qualities that flowers bring to viewers remains a prevalent and universal force.”
Alexandra Averbach, Synergy, oil on canvas,
Artists including Joshua Jensen-Nagle, Max Steven Grossman, T.M. Glass, Alexandra Averbach and Sherrie Wolf, are creating quite a buzz with their various styles and “already has us feeling excited and exuberant about the new year,” says Solamente.
Dreamy is one way to describe this collection, and it’s definitely true of works like Off In My Dream by photographer Jensen-Nagle. His newest series Pieces of You expands on his themes involving experimental photography as a means to capture and express emotion. “I expanded on this concept by exploring details from other artists, architects and designers’ work that moved me on an emotional level,” Jensen-Nagle expresses.
Joshua Jensen-Nagle, Off In My Dream, archival inkjet print face mounted to plexiglass, 43 x 43"
The series is a two-part body of work that includes designer fashions, where Jensen-Nagle focuses on small sections of woven and printed floral patterns on new and vintage fashion garments. The second portion is from Park Güell in Barcelona, and showcases Antonio Gaudi’s masterful mosaic work on benches throughout the park.
For Averbach, her focus in her floral still lifes is sunshine. “I believe flowers bathed in sunlight give the paintings a sparkle and vitality,” Averbach explains. For the show, Averbach wanted to showcase big, bold flowers with subtle nuances in shading and tone.
In addition, she’s “currently moving away from clear glass jars and vases, and experimenting more with containers that have a pattern or beautiful design that will accentuate the flowers. I am also experimenting a bit more with background colors, which have tended to be more muted in the past.” This is noticeable in Synergy, with large white flowers set against a black background. 
T.M. Glass, Blue Poppy in a Blue and White Chinese Vase, archival pigment print on handmade Italian rag paper, 30 x 30"
Wolf derives her inspiration from a connection to art history, such as grand floral still life tradition from Dutch 17th century. Wolf also utilizes juxtaposition in her work, creating exciting interactions between objects, as seen in Yellow Tulips with Manet. “I often use historic works of art as a reference; this helps me think about the world as it used to be, what it is now and how so much of what we are has not really changed,” says Wolf.
Glass is also swayed by history in his digital paintings. “Things that impressed me as a child and an art school student continue to appear in my dreams,” says Glass, “including my grandmother’s flower garden, and the international museums I visited where I admired historic vases from all cultures.” 
Sherrie Wolf, Yellow Tulips with Manet, oil on canvas, 32 x 48"
Glass uses the latest high-resolution equipment to achieve astonishing floral imagery, such as in his show piece Blue Poppy in a Blue White Chinese Vase. “I fully embrace technology and use digital tools in my work to mix colors, collage bits and pieces of images, hand paint with digital paint, add and subtract,” Glass says. “In other words, I do with digital hardware and software whatever I might do if I were using physical paint. Unlike a traditional painter, I create my art on a computer with input from a digital camera and a digital painting tablet and stylus.”
Inviting sunshine back into our lives, the Floral Still Life show at Arden Gallery will run January 4 through 31. —
Arden Gallery 129 Newbury Street • Boston, MA 02116 • (617) 247-0610 • www.ardengallery.com
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