It’s national gardening week this week so we have pick some of our best prints to bring the outside in and get inspired to get out into the garden.
First up we have Marc Quinn’s amazing floral compositions. He creates a still-life arrangement in his studio using flowers and fruit bought in London on a particular day. Since most of the flowers and fruit in these compositions would never bloom at the same time, or even be found together in the natural world, they show us the way in which human desire has created new seasons - bringing together in one geographical location things that nature would not assemble. The paintings depict a frozen moment of 'unnatural' time. Often large in scale and dramatically coloured, their beauty belies a sinister subtext: the relentless human desire to control nature. Titled after freaks of ecology the works offer up a corrupt beauty that suggests our possible future.
Claude Monet was not only a great artist but an amazing gardener. He created his masterpiece in his gardens in Givenchy France and these then inspired his most famous Water Lilly paintings.
Eric Ravilious painted some beautiful garden views including this watercolour inspired by the green houses at Firle House in Sussex. You can just smell the ripening tomatoes.
Gustav Klimt produced lots of floral paintings inspired by his summer holidays in in Villa Oleander, in Kammer on Lake Attersee. This one is a riot of flowers and foliage yellow sunflowers as well as red pink blue and white blooms.
Bruce McLean produces beautiful strong and bold abstract flora works that are a riot of colour. The artist has hand painted onto this beautiful silkscreen print, giving it texture and depth, as well as making each one unique. The use of collaged elements adds an extra tactility to the surface.
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