Gala Oelsner (Flowers series)

"I moved to the United States from Israel in 1999. Coming from a different environment, I am constantly checking my relationship with the place I am coming from and the place where I am now. I always think about flowers in a similar way; when you remove a flower from its natural place and put it elsewhere, will it grow the same? In my art process, I integrate photographs in flowers. Through the process of cutting, clustering, and rearranging it within the painting, I essentially take an object from its natural surroundings and put it in a different one. In this way, I suggest a new identity to the object. Initially, the viewer sees a flower. Yet, when they come closer, they see it is actually a cluster of the same repetitive image of a woman figure that together forms a new entity. When the viewer gets closer, it creates an intimacy between the viewer and the painting. Similarly, one needs to come closer to smell and enjoy a flower’s beauty. Once realizing its natural identity, what does it become now?".