|
Curator's Comment
I find this artwork by Malcolm Whittaker, called work 'Burnt Orchid', very pertinent for our times. It is one of the artist's assemblages and is in two parts. Above is a dark square with some marks on it and below a transparent box with part of an orchid flower in it. The orchid looks diseased or burnt. It is like a museum specimen of something that is extinct.
At first sight, the square above looks bland and empty. Until you look closely. You can make out a faded orchid flower, like a shadow. It is just recognisable in the bottom left. And at the top of the square above there is a large drip of red, as if something has been cut and is bleeding. There is also some indecipherable writing and the number 5, as if the object has been described and numbered by some museum curator long ago.
It can be fascinating trying to work out what all this means. You can become a visual detective. I think it can be viewed on at least two different levels: on a micro level, as a comment on the transience of beauty - a fresh bloom has only a fleeting existence; and on a macro level, as a warning of what we, nature, the planet face as a result of man's catastrophic impact on the natural environment. I talked a lot about this picture with Malcolm Whittaker and also mentioned that the orchid residue reminded me of the shadow bodies of Hiroshima. The blood red against the textured earth colour struck me as a powerful image of our earth bleeding. The artist told me that, as far as he was concerned, the very purpose of art was to stimulate thoughts, feelings and associations in this way. Each viewer will have their own interpretation of the artwork.
|