Detail from “Hothouse Bouquet with Spider” (acrylic on panel ), by Nicole Duennebier, in her show “Flora Hex,’’ at 13FOREST Gallery, in Arlington, Mass., through April 16.
The gallery says: “Her compositions bring to mind the old masters, Dutch still-lifes and Rococo landscapes in their attention to detail. But these paintings aren't idly pretty artworks, as Duennebier prefers to inject an element of the grotesque into her work, making her pieces simultaneously compelling and challenging. Some paintings feature floral wreaths and memorials depicted in lonely caves and desolate woods, conveying a sense of melodrama and isolation. Others contain carelessly squashed blossoms and fluttering insects marring the beauty of a bouquet. Perhaps most striking are the paintings in which flowers surround dead fish or slimy, unidentifiable meat. Each artwork has something unsettling about it, whether obvious or subtle, that adds a layer of emotional depth. Duennebier's work in ‘Floral Hex’ is complex, both beautiful and uncanny, offering an duality that both repulses and entrances the viewer.’’
She lives and works in Malden, Mass., an inner suburb of Boston.
Fellsmere Park, in Malden
—Photo by pilgrimsong
