On Growth and Form
In 1917 Sir D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson, a Scottish biologist, authored an enormous and erudite book, “On Growth and Form.” This formal analysis of patterns and shapes in nature was described by a colleague, Sir Peter Medawar, as “the finest work of literature in all the annals of science that have been recorded in the English tongue.”
In these paintings I am exploring the shapes and textures of plants that have been held sacred by different cultures across time; plants mentioned in the Bible and the Quran, flowers that held a deep spiritual significance for the ancients and were used for healing and psychological care, and plants used in Native American ceremonies.
