A fresh take on floral art
Adam Matak says it with flowers — or, to be more precise, with his drawings of flowers.
The drawings, more than a dozen big ones on paper, are on show in Arrangements, an exhibition at Oswald’s Gallery.
Matak describes them as “eclectic drawings of flowers taken from very different sources. They remind me a lot of what Hamilton is becoming.”
That is not the sort of thing traditional flower painters have said with their florals. They told us how all life decays and dies, or gave us pretty pictures that reminded us of nature’s bounty.
But then Matak is interested in contributing to how the meanings of objects change over time. So his drawings of flower arrangements mirror what happens in cities.
“The framework of the flower arrangements allowed me to curate images from vastly different worlds, just as large cities bring together people of different racial and class backgrounds,” he tells me.
Matak, 40, says he has been making art all his life.
“This particular body of work I started when I was living in Boston a few years ago,” he says. “This summer I decided to revisit the project.”
The drawings speak to his love of bringing things together. He collects flower images, then chooses what to draw, using ink, acrylic, oil and spray paint.
“When I am drawing sections of flowers made by other artists or designers there is a certain empathy that happens for me,” he says. “I feel something of that other person working. Many people will say that drawing is a way of seeing, but for me it is also a physical action that can make you feel for and with other people. ”
Most of the drawings comprise flowers and other objects in vases, some more quirky than others. In one work, for instance, Matak adds a dotted line with a pair of scissors drawn at one end.
“For most of the works, I began with the vessel or container and I let that guide the decisions I make,” he says.
In “Arrangements (Instructions)” he begins with an art historical touchstone: an ancient Greek amphora depicting two Greek heroes playing a board game.
“From this,” he says, “the images of flowers that I chose to render were associated with the idea of games or rules.”
At the top, for example, he’s printed “Drawing made easy.” And down the left side, we are shown how to draw a flower in five numbered steps.
By comparison, the container in “Arrangements (Puppy)” looks less classy, more kitsch. It’s shaped like a small dog. The flowers, a varied bunch, include roses and chrysanthemums.
Moreover, Matak adds variety to the arrangement by drawing objects in different styles. The roses look lifelike. But to the left of the white rose, the four little blooms are the familiar stylized flowers we can all draw. The small red dots on the right introduce even more variety.
In “Arrangements (Goldfinch),” the luscious bunch of flowers includes roses, daisies and a stylized trillium. A bird perches on the right, the yellow of its feathers picked up in smaller bursts of yellow along the floral arc.
“I began with the vase, but also with a composition in mind where the edge of the page would bend the arrangement downward,” Matak explains.
“I have collected hundreds of files of images of flowers. For this piece I narrowed the folder down to about 40 or so that I wanted to use and these are the flowers that made the cut.”
Regina Haggo, art historian, public speaker, curator and former professor at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, teaches at the Dundas Valley School of Art. dhaggo@thespec.com