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COLLECTOR'S FOCUS
FLORALS & BOTANICALSgardens, bouquets and paintings.
Alexandra Averbach makes them even
more splendid with meticulously crafted
large canvases in which they have nothing
to compete with except their containers—
which are often white or clear glass. In
Silent Elegance, large red blossoms take
center stage in a white mug in a white
setting with just a touch of contrasting
green leaves and sepals. They are “bathed
in direct sunlight,” she explains. “I am
drawn to painting still life not only because
I find the subject matter beautiful, but
also because of how I feel when I paint.As I paint, the luminous petals of flowers
or the round drupelets of a raspberry
become a semi-hypnotizing pattern that is
very calming and soothing...I wish for my
paintings to convey a sense of stillness, as
if time is suspended within the painting,
and hope the viewer experiences the same
sense of tranquility in my work.”
Jon Doran brings the traditional
vase, flowers and raking light into the
21 st century in paintings that expose the
process of their making and a contempo-
rary way of seeing. In Roses and Shade,
the softness of the sunlit petals contrastswith the shiny, nearly black leaves which
are set against a background of simple,
loose brushstrokes of paint. The entire
image is broken up as in an unresolved
digital signal. He, like Averbach, seeks the
“contemplative and quiet.” He says, “I hope
to coax the eye into believing the play of
light on form, but then call it out and show
that it’s just paint on a surface...Hopefully
my work isn’t just a mere example of mirror
of current zeitgeists that will soon past, but
rather it attempts to engage with deeper
more fundamental and universal themes of
beauty, meaning and purpose.”4 56 7