Three Flower Vases 2015

Bernadette Resha made this painting, Three Flower Vases, at an undetermined date with what appears to be gouache. It's interesting how the vases are stacked like a mood board – white orchids at the top, a green and black patterned horizontal bar beneath, then a couple of squat square landscapes populated with violet and scarlet flowers in white pots. These squares are bounded by two more horizontal bars, one with vertical stripes and another with green and yellow rectangles. This all sits within a frame of lavender and rust. The orchids, with their white petals and red stamens, reach for the light, their stems firmly planted in a cylindrical blue vase. This contrasts with the curly gold vines crawling over the background, on a sea-green, bubbly surface. Reminds me of the bold, graphic work of someone like Etel Adnan, who also wasn't afraid to mix abstraction and representation, flatness and depth. It’s a conversation. The art world; it’s all conversation!