Ghost Flower 

Curator: The artwork before us is called "Ghost Flower" by Charles Blackman, made with acrylic paint. It appears to be neo-expressionistic. What's your first impression? Editor: Hauntingly beautiful. The overlay of these ethereal flowers makes the portrait feel…veiled. Like a memory or a dream trying to surface. Curator: I agree, and that title, "Ghost Flower," reinforces that sensation of something just beyond reach. Consider the artist's materials, acrylics are incredibly versatile but tend to flatten out the layers. Think about the availability of affordable acrylics after WWII enabling greater art production. The bright blue contrasting with the dark silhouette...it all comes together. Editor: Absolutely. It reminds me of those photographic double exposures from the early days of photography, a deliberate layering, revealing a simultaneous presence and absence. The face itself is rendered so softly, almost dissolving beneath the bolder flowers. It's almost unnerving. Like a fading photograph, what details remain feel poignant. Curator: Indeed, the flowers themselves seem to have two different palettes with distinct application methods which serves to amplify the tension within the work. The process by which Blackman constructed this composition, layering paint in planes... I wonder if there were specific inspirations that prompted these types of decisions. What could the choice of an almost exclusively cool palette indicate in regard to the state of art during that period? Editor: That thought evokes another idea…What if the flower acts as an external representation of the persona the sitter chooses to present, almost like armour to conceal an inner vulnerability? The cool palette heightens the figure’s ghostly affect… she emerges like some specter or some half forgotten ancestor. Curator: Exactly, perhaps Blackman attempts to evoke themes and emotions related to past lives through deliberate and thoughtful material applications. It brings so much meaning to the flowers being somewhat superimposed between us, the viewers, and her, a symbolic screen we can't transcend to truly see and access. Editor: Well, "Ghost Flower" certainly blooms in the mind long after viewing, doesn’t it? It evokes so many haunting, reflective ideas about what portraiture really is. Curator: Precisely. It encourages you to examine its materiality but rewards contemplation above all. A very evocative piece.