Art Explained: Ghost Flower
Ghost Flower 2019 24 x 20 in. ( 60.96 x 50.8 cm) Acrylic and oil on linen, framed
The painting was colorful, radiating in green foliage and vibrant red and pink flowers. The light blue background was submissive enough to highlight the liveliness of the blooms and the painterly yellow at the base. In efforts to enhance its soft entry into existence, it was being sold at a decorative shop without any pomp, festivity or glamour. A year later it was pulled off of the wall, and rode in the back seat of a truck in silence, moving along with the bumps and turns of the road and muted by what it knew was a reversal of its path. It was supposed to be held by the proud hands of its beaming new owner, installed with a gold nail on a beautiful wall or graciously placed on a tall strong mantle, never to return to the same art studio. The piece had something to say, but its engagement didn’t happen, its relevance didn’t exist and its sounds were not heard. As we rode back that late afternoon, it was unable to understand what was happening and in its own isolated confusion and solace, somewhere in another dimension where humans cannot see, its bright red flowers withered, its leaves fell and it stopped breathing.
When a painting dies, an artist knows it.
Such was its first life, and no amount of preparation could have changed its existence. In early January of this year, the painting gave a tiny gesture. No words, no physical movement just an ephemeral non visual signal. I questioned its validity, wondering if the signal was a subliminal spasm or some sort of electrochemical twitch, but I couldn’t dismiss the recurring and intuitive feeling that these were other worldly instructions on its reincarnation, its second life. After days of thinking on how to proceed and at times leaving things alone, I was obsessed with the painting and felt an absolute desire to bring it back to life, to participate in its rebirth. As i prepared to start, I watched closely and familiarized myself with the tiniest nuance and the most subtle cues coming from the painting, no signal was dismissed. Paper wrapped the wood frame secured by masking tape tucked into the space between the linen. I placed it upright on a wall and began to slowly glaze the linen with very gentle layers of warm white softly pulling the new layer of oil paint to create a technical diffusion. Soon the color of the paintings complexion changed, the entire recreation lasted a few hours. With a final tap of the brush I stopped and listened, but there was no sound. I suddenly felt a very deep understanding that i hadn't felt before. I could feel the presence and even purpose of the painting. I could sense that the flowers underneath were giving life to the soft white overlay from another dimension. It was alive again and made immediate connect to the mind of the viewer .. it spoke in a telepathic spiritual way, completely breathing in a new form. A gossamer veil now overlaps the entire four hundred and eighty square inches of linen. Its sublime vaporous presence softly speaks to its viewers about its past in an almost undetectable way. If you look carefully and listen to the painting it will absorb you and will teach you a language that connects directly with your sixth human sense.
