Song of Songs is a series of 24 paintings that takes its name from a book of the Old Testament. Written circa 900BC, this piece of erotic poetry follows the journey of two lovers from courtship to consummation. The more explicit parts of the poem are expressed, euphemistically, in language that might – at first glance – be that of a gardener.
My paintings – each of which takes its title from a line in Song of Songs – investigate the parallels between the sensuality (and sexuality) of a pair of lovers and their equivalent in the plant world, specifically through the close (indeed, at times, very intimate) observation of an anthurium plant given to me as a gift as I embarked on a new phase in my life. Ranging from the delicately sensual to the blatantly phallic, the works use colour and composition to create a metaphor for love and lust.
Image : Song of Songs 8.14 “Make haste, my beloved…” Oil on Canvas
