Turmoil 2017
Artist Statement
Through the creation of these floral digital composite images, I try to navigate through the interconnections between the natural and the enigmatic world. With an inquisitive eye, this way of seeing draws the viewer deeper into the image.
When we see something new, our focus on the unfamiliar and familiar subconsciously blend to reveal something completely new. We naturally try to decipher a meaning that makes us comfortable in the perceived ordered world in which we live. By layering digital images my intent is to engage the viewer in nuances rich in colour, light and detail.
My artistic practice is partially informed by the 19th century French Impressionism and the Dutch floral masters of the 17th century. The Dutch style deliberately combined disharmonious colours with a vague pictorial central point. They created visions of blooming flowers that in reality did not exist creating a natural appeal to this floral unruliness.
With Photoshop, I manipulate images through a layering process where each image is comprised of numerous textures, filters and individually, digitally-cut flowers. I then create a space that unfolds through depth by accumulating stratums of light, transparency and opacity. Often the choice of images is instinctive and random in nature. This interweaving of imagery creates a synergy of the natural elements and presents them in a way that is new and fresh. Nature is creative, thus there is order and disorder in these intricate compositions.
Deborah Cameron