“I MUST HAVE FLOWERS – ALWAYS, AND ALWAYS!”

 

That’s the immortal exclamatory demand of the great founder of Impressionism: Claude Monet. And in a more reflective mood, he mused: “I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers…”

 

In celebration of Monet’s ardent passion for flowers, Galerya Amalia presents “IN FULL BLOOM.” An all- woman group exhibition, the show is a veritable bouquet of radiant colors and enchanting floral forms, the latest works of Naomi Banal, Flor Baradi, Remy Boquiren, Chie Cruz, Addie Cukingnan, Inka Madera, Mary Ann B. Reyes, Lydia Velasco, and Lisa Villasenor.

 

Flower painting, of course, has a long history, stretching back to ancient times. Flowers were to be found in Egyptian tombs as well as in early Roman mosaics. Down through the recent and present century, flower painting has always had its adherents and practitioners, mining the rich symbolism of different flowers. For virtues and noble qualities such as innocence and purity, love and passion, courage and devotion, dignity and sympathy, there is a corresponding flower. As is well-known, an essential emblem of Pop Art is the Flower Series of the Pope of Pop, Andy Warhol.

 

Literally and metaphorically, “In Full Bloom” is an efflorescence of various subjects and styles, because for these Filipina painters – as it was with Monet – they must have flowers – always, and always!