In her New York studio apartment, high above the city's bustling streets, Paulette Tavormina works around the clock to produce photographs that look like paintings. Surrounded by over ripe figs and newly bloomed morning glories, she is in a garden of her own making.
Black & Bloom will showcase the artist’s past and present. Natura Morta, an ongoing series Tavormina began in 2008, draws inspiration from seventeenth century Old Master still lifes. Tavormina’s deft assemblages of flora, fauna and filigree–she previously worked as a prop and food stylist in Hollywood–are modern explorations of timeless themes.
Botanicals, Tavormina's newest series, takes a traditional genre and flips it on its head. Popular in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, botanical illustrations aided in the differentiation of species before acodified set of terms had been established. At first glance, Tavormina’s images appear to be deconstructed still lifes. Her ideal floral specimens favor whimsy–a wandering caterpillar, a lone petal–over perfection. Where she once directed the viewer’s eye, she is now dispersing with a central focus and playfully pulling our attention to the edges of the image.
“These are all my favorite flowers, in all stages of life,” says Tavormina. “They represent my childhood, my memories.” In her quiet, beautiful way, Tavormina reminds us that winter’s root vegetables and summer’s roses can flourish side-by-side, that the seasons have given way to age and time.
