THE FLOWER SHOW
GROUP EXHIBITION
THE FLOWER SHOW
June 7 - September 9, 2023
Opening Reception
June 7, 2023, 6 - 8 pm
LA Louver
45 North Venice Blvd, Venice, CA 90291
The Flower Show includes over 50 artists who work from diverse perspectives and cultural origins. From historic botanical study and still life composition, to assemblage sculpture and interactive video, the exhibition features flowers in formal, symbolic and narrative contexts. Themes of life, death, identity, memory and the environment infuse the presentation.
ARTISTS
Marcellina Akpojotor, Terry Allen, Tony Berlant, Pancrace Bessa, Mary Beyt, Édouard Boubatm, Deborah Butterfield, Rebecca Campbell, Paul Caponigro, Nick Cave, Dale Chihuly, Eileen Cowin, Petah Coyne, Dana DeGiulio, Amir H. Fallah, Gajin Fujita, Charles Garabedian, Yvette Gellis, Luis González Palma, Penelope Gottlieb, Glenn Hardy Jr., David Hockney, Dion Johnson, Flora Kao, Rachel Lachowicz, Birdie Lusch, Heather Gwen Martin, Patrick Martinez, Enrique Martínez Celaya, Tony Matelli, Henri Matisse, Thom Mayne, Jacquelyn McBain, Shaun McCracken, Lauren Doolin McMillen, Ana Mendieta, Adolphe Monticelli, Jiha Moon, Kathy Moss, Stas Orlovski, Christopher Pate, Zemer Peled, Vanessa Prager, Astrid Preston, Paula Rösler, Sandra Mendelsohn Rubin, Alison Saar, Tsherin Sherpa,Raychael Stine, Don Suggs, teamLab, Jennifer Vanderpool, Matt Wedel, Faith Wilding, Tom Wudl
Astrid Preston’s romantic Giverny Garden is an homage to Claude Monet’s famous impressionist paintings of his garden at Giverny.
- Lita Barrie
Giverny Garden, 2008, oil on canvas, 33 x 36 inches
The Flower Show at L.A. Louver Coincides with a Rare Superbloom in California
By Lita Barrie, August 2023
The Flower Show at L.A. Louver coincides with a rare superbloom of California poppies and other wildflowers this summer after four years of drought, brown lawns, dying plants and frustrating water restrictions. But a perfect mix of heavy rain and historic wet winter followed by sunshine created a spectacular superbloom that was so large it could be seen from space. Crowds flocked to the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve and other places in the Golden State to walk the trails because the last superbloom was in 2019. I even saw Korean ladies in long floral summer dresses and wide, floppy sun hats carrying Oriental parasols who arrived in buses to walk the trails in long lines – inspired by the ladies in French Impressionist paintings.
Understanding the aesthetic significance of this renewed passion for flowers, Elizabeth East, a director at L.A. Louver began contacting the gallery’s artists, other gallerists, and collectors to curate an exhibition of floral art. Even at short notice, many artists were so enthusiastic about the idea that they created new paintings for the exhibition. Others had turned to painting flowers during the COVID lockdown, when people were filling their homes with flowers as an antidote to the sense of death. East told me, “My intention was simple: to curate a visually stunning show that included a rich diversity of perspectives and intentions. Flowers are timeless and universal; I set out to capture that essence.”
The exhibition includes 55 artists and over 90 artworks, installed in small groupings that enable viewers to recognize parallels between artworks. ...