This February, Wally Workman Gallery presents Floral,a joint exhibition showcasing still life paintings by James Andrew Smith and the realistic ceramic creations of Owen Mann. The show opens at the Austin gallery on February 7 with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m., and will hang through March 1.
Owen Mann, Celestial Poppies (detail), porcelain, 36 x 72 in.
Mann is largely self-taught, and when he started exploring ceramics more than a decade ago, his focus was figurative works. When he began using clay to create flowers, he quickly realized that porcelain was the ideal medium. He also uses other mediums, specifically red clay. In addition to his porcelain pieces, which are arranged as wall installations, the show will include a grouping of succulents in red clay.
“I create each petal individually and very rarely work from a picture or still life as I found I move quicker going from the picture in my mind,” says Mann. “If I was to look at a book or still life, I’d rely on the photo and not my memory, so I wouldn’t truly see it. I can’t perfectly recreate a flower and I don’t try to.”
Owen Mann, Magnolia Trio (detail), porcelain, 12 x 36 in.
Celestial Poppies is a large cascading flower piece that, when complete, should cover most of a wall space. By the time of the exhibition, another piece, Magnolia Trio, “could turn into five flowers,” Mann laughs.
Working in oil, Smith takes a more traditional approach to his carefully curated floral compositions.
“I am drawn to the historic appreciation of the still life genre as an effort to capture fleeting moments in time,” Smith says. “Flowers are especially unique in their ability to capture something fading and ephemeral. I think the transitory nature of flowers is some of what captivated the attention of the early still life painters. They recognized the tension between beauty and decay, abundance and lack, life and death. Many historic still life paintings were intentional studies of mortality. Painting a flower slowly fading towards its death spoke metaphorically to our own eventual end. Through the careful attention to light, color and form, there is a celebration of life in these paintings, as well as the human urge to capture beauty and vibrancy within the transitory and finite context of our lives.”
After many years of painting fresh flowers directly from life, Smith transitioned to taking photos of his arrangements, which preserves them at the height of their vibrancy, and allows him to work out the composition before moving to the canvas.
James Andrew Smith, Simple Splendor, oil on linen, 14 x 12 in.
The Gentlest Dance and Simple Splendor represent the largest and smallest works in the show, with the former a monumental 72 by 72 inches; and the latter an intimate 14 by 12 inches.
“There is an extreme contrast in the size of the two paintings, but both are large-spirited paintings and equally powerful,” says Smith. “Simple Splendor is an intentional nod to the Dutch artists. The combination of the tulips, the Delft vase and the careful lighting that falls from the left, together capture the spirit of the Dutch realists. As a small painting, it is also a kind of jewel box of colors and light. It is evocative in its simplicity and attention to detail in a few, small objects. In contrast, Gentlest Dance is such a large painting that the floral composition engulfs you. It feels like an embrace when standing in front of it. You can feel the essence of the beautiful, large, white French tulips and sense their fleshy vitality, almost experiencing their gentle swaying movement in the flowers. This painting is all about the mass of flowers, and this made it important to hide from view the complete body of the vase and the table-top of the still life. The tulips were glorious and demanded to be everything.” —
James Andrew Smith, The Gentlest Dance, oil on canvas, 72 x 72 in.
Wally Workman Gallery 1202 W. 6th Street • Austin, TX 78703 (512) 472-7428 • www.wallyworkmangallery.com
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