'Abstract in Living Color Exhibit', at the Foster Gallery of the Arts.

This is the view from the entrance to our retirement village, Waitakere Gardens, two days before Christmas 2021. What a difference. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

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And now to today's post...

I was thinking about the parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant the other day.  I also happened to pass a storefront during my daily walk that had an abstract painting displayed inside.  It all set me to thinking about what I could do with some close-up photographs of flowers.  Could I zoom into some part of it and produce a sort of living abstract, with vivid colors and patterns, but one that didn't fully identify what it really was? You know, the trunk, or side, or tail of the elephant, so to speak?  Well, why not? I decided to try.   

Some of the photos below still look very much like flowers. I briefly considered zooming in even closer to further disguise them.  

I decided instead to leave them as they are, and suggest that as you scroll down through these, that you try to imagine them, not as flowers growing along the footpath next to the café at Waitakere Gardens, but as abstract swirls, curls, eddies, and whorls of color that have been painted. I have commented on, and have named some of them. Your imaginations may also become engaged. New or alternate names may be submitted.       

These are all hanging in an exhibit at the gallery that is this post.  

If your world has recently turned all white outside, perhaps these splashes of color will be especially welcome.  I've turned up the thermostat so the virtual halls you'll stroll through are as warming as the colors. There is no entry fee and you may stay as long as you like. There are no guards to move you along should you decide to linger a bit in front of a favorite. 

I wish I could offer you a glass of wine as you enter or a cup of tea before you leave.      

 

I thought about this one for some time, and then decided to call it, 

-Herding Behavior, Petalasaurus fosterae 

-Devil's Tower, Close Encounter of the Preferred Kind. 

 

I imagine that this is an explosion that occurred 0.00001 seconds ago. I call it,

-Detonation at 400 nm.   

  This color of light has a wavelength of about 400 nanometers. (A nanometer is equal to one billionth of a meter) 

And now two of a different sort...

(Not a Covid virus)  

These two 'paintings' hang by themselves in a small room between the wings that house the others. I think of them as palate cleansers between courses of color. 

-Nexus of thorns 

-Focal Nightmare

I've noticed that visitors to my gallery often pause in this small room, and alternate their gaze between these two opposites before immersing themselves into the next deluge of color.  

-Petal-umbra

(I'm now imagining a sci-fi story) 

"The crowd stands motionless and watchful as the rover approaches."  

This is the original picture that Focal Nightmare and Petal-umbra were taken from. Petal-umbra came first. Focal Nightmare was an afterthought. 

This one reminds me of the wrinkled fissures, bulges, and grooves of a brain. I've named it, 

-A Passing Thought. 

This one is -Pinwheel of course. 

- A Scoop of Lemon Ice

-Inchworm

This one seems to have been constructed in thirds...I call it, -Three States of Matter. 

While some of these previous 'paintings' appear to have been done in oils and other in watercolors, I think this last one may have been done in pencil.  

I hope that you enjoyed your visit to my gallery today.  This exhibit will be on permanent display at  FGA, and I look forward to your return.       -djf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant