Acrylic, soft pastel, carbon pencil and chalkboard paint on wood panel.
8x10"
Channeling diverse influences ranging from endangered species and cut flower arrangements, to children’s amusements and Italian folk music, this mixed media painting captures the fleeting quality of life. By suffusing abstracted swathes of colour with carefully drawn details and a coral reef aesthetic, the works ask viewers to untangle dense layers and find relationships in seemingly disparate imagery. Geometric shapes resembling building blocks threaten to swallow carefully rendered details of plants, suggesting their likely demise through the agency of human progress. However, rather than obliterating the natural living things, these geometric shapes appear to be replicating themselves – learning how to grow alongside the natural world.
While earning her BFA in Visual Arts Studio (Specialized Honours, 2001) at York University in Canada, Ester Pugliese spent one year studying abroad in Leeds, UK, where her interest in discerning the line between abstraction and representation took hold. As a Toronto-based Canadian artist, she has exhibited extensively across southern Ontario and is the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships. Pugliese's work can be found in private and public collections, including the Donovan Collection at the University of Toronto and Capital One.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Envisioning still life painting through coral reef glasses, Ester Pugliese’s densely layered paintings brim with colour. Patches of vibrant colour resemble land masses and approximations of the darks/lights in flower arrangements. Conjuring verdant earthly gardens and shimmering aquatic forests, this work achieves a heady visual clutter that reflects the overwhelming nature of contemporary society, and reminds us why the natural world needs protecting.
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