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lørdag den 17. september 2011

Blomsternes sarte død

Mercedes Baliarda: Skull

Mercedes Baliarda tegner kunstværker med grafit på kalkerpapir, hvor det ofte er blomster der afbildes efter at de er tørrede og pressede. Hun dræber de smukke og sarte blomster, og dokumenterer deres død, de små tragedier som en slags memento mori. En serie fra 2009 viser skyggerne af de døde blomster arrangeret som dødningehoveder. Poetiske kranier.

Mercedes Baliarda: Skull

Flowers, their arguably accessible beauty and extensive metaphorical use in art, are commonly perceived as decorative and unchallenging in a contemporary context. Their usual fragility and harmlessness are considered defining characteristics. My highly detailed drawings try to subtly shift these perceptions to create an unnerving feeling of poignance and a tragic beauty.

These x-ray like drawings are made with automatic graphite pencil on tracing paper from pressed flowers that I have collected. My work is variable in size, ranging from the tiny to the size of a wall and is sometimes arranged in handmade artist books.

Through the process of picking, pressing and drawing, I cause and document the death of these flowers and attempt to elevate these small tragedies as their images become tributes or memento mori in my work. A lyrical dimension is added by the titles. Deeper thoughts might spring from the connection between the words and the work.

Flowers unthreatening beauty can become a seductive and confusing force through which I explore inconsistencies of perception and thought, and seek to create a deeper poetry that penetrates superficial understanding.

Mercedes Baliarda, London, 2009

Mercedes Baliarda: Skull

Mercedes Baliarda: Through both realms for ever


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