Simon Barlow

"The beauty of the flower is spiritual, sensuous and self-sufficient. Their universal language far surpasses our human need to politicise them: they are more than decoration, metaphors and emblems of beauty. They are symbols and celebrations of creation.

Although my artistic style can be categorised within the genre of Realism, my paintings are an exercise in exploring and portraying the extraordinary and surreal in the subjects I choose. I approach the floral compositions as complex landscapes, rather than studies of arrangements. I am spellbound by the specimens' multiple and varied colours, textures and structures that make up these compositions. Using dramatic lighting and large format, inspired by Baroque artists like Caravaggio, my paintings express the majesty and mysticism harboured within the plant kingdom. The plants' organs for reproduction sprout, bloom and die, representing the cycle of life and the organics of mortality.

I have found my home, after years of wandering, in the pure and honest expression of beauty."