Watering Fields Of Poppy (2024) is a densely tangled abstract painting from the series ‘Ghosts of Gaza’ evoking strong feelings of loss and grief.
Rivers of sinuous blue snake and flow down the canvas like tears, the watering of the title. The ground is a hazy wash of muted orange and purple washes, interspersed with fragments of line and occasional discs of gold leaf. Across this landscape, black lined ovals with dark green dot pattern seed pods hover, fringed red with petals like wounds or flowers, some watchful eyes, others lingering drones above a field of poppy. Through this, two snaking white lines suggest the presence of faces looking out mournfully and tearful from the packed and fractured surface. A deep sadness pervades the scene but also, like these scattered seeds suggest, regrowth from the watering of the land.
You can visit this painting in my virtual gallery here
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