Both artists in this exhibition use digital tools
to examine and visually experiment with flowers. The resulting works are vibrant,
exciting and surprising.
Debb VanDelinder presents flowers
at close range in a format large enough to give her subject matter an otherworldly quality.
Her sense of inquisitive fascination is apparent and lush new perspectives that often take on multiple meanings are
her reward; and ours. She appreciates the sensuality and organic beauty of flowers but what is particularly interesting is
when also reveals flower as ferocious characters as in Chewed Up and Spit Out and Little Monster. But as the saying goes, “All is far in love and war.” VanDelinder understands that every day
as a living thing involves a little of both.
Stan Bowman uses flowers as a starting
point. He then manipulates the imagery, pushing and testing boundaries but never
losing sight of his initial attraction to the subject matter. The colorful, repetitive
forms found in nature are reconfigured as vivid visual experiments that play with pattern, shape and even the boundary between
2 and 3 dimensional works. Bowman often wraps color and pattern around the edges
of his pieces and his shaped canvases push his floral studies completely past the boundaries of 2D presentation. Works like
F-stop give a strong sense of both bountiful growth and a designer’s hand. I like to think of Stan Bowman as a digital
gardener.
