Wall Flowers 1994

Curator: Here we have Donald Sultan’s painting, "Wall Flowers," completed in 1994 using acrylic paint. I find its scale somewhat imposing. The intense color and simplified shapes fill the canvas, demanding attention. Editor: There's an arresting clarity to those indigo blobs that hint at flower forms, a kind of archetypal image lurking beneath. They seem both weighty and strangely buoyant. Curator: Cobalt blue, specifically, has held symbolic weight for centuries, linked to devotion and the heavens, which gives it a feeling of spiritual elevation. The loose, gestural impasto application also creates depth and movement within these supposed floral forms. Do you see a similar effect? Editor: Absolutely, Donald Sultan does take the well known image of flowers and transform it through material manipulation. But rather than a realistic rendition, these flowers feel more like symbols of memories. Curator: And it reminds me of how floral imagery itself acts as a stand-in for so many concepts through history and cultures: vitality, loss, fragility, beauty. These heavy blooms against that vast blankness – are they reminders or elegies? Editor: Or even celebrations! This painting offers a fascinating tension between raw emotion and detached abstraction. Donald Sultan leaves so much unresolved. Curator: Yes, the sparseness almost invites a completion of image. Thank you, my dear colleague, for adding dimensions to understanding this deceptively simple work. Editor: My pleasure. Hopefully, visitors feel invited into a renewed contemplation about floral imagery, not just here but as it echoes in other artistic traditions.