Christine Neill --- Artist | Immortal Plant Portraits: Gallery Lecture at ESPACE KALEO

Notes from a lecture given at Espace Kaleo, April 4, 2008:

Over the past 5 years I have painted over 60 of the Immortal Plant Portraits after I saw a series of panels of the Immortal Chinese Poets at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Each portrait was depicted on a separate wooden panel and they were presented lined up on a shelf. I was impressed by both the personality of the faces and the presentation of the series.

While I am neither a realistic flower painter, nor a botanical illustrator, I am interested in those places where human and natural life intersects. I look for human characteristics and metaphors in plant forms. I find my subjects after they are past their peak and fall to the ground or even in the mulch pile. These forms often reveal more of the essential qualities of the plant and the neutral colors allow me to alter color and shapes.

One of my objectives when I attended the Residency at the Château in 2007 was to explore and chronicle similarities and differences between plant life here and in the US. Singly, these panels allow me to become acquainted with new species and to explore its unique aspects. When grouped, they remind me of the connection we have to the ancient and enduring qualities of the natural world.

Digitalis is one of those universal plants; its medicinal properties were traditionally used to regulate heart rhythms; I raise them in my New Hampshire garden, while here they grow wild. In the US we find Artichauts and Persimmons in the markets during spring; in Rochefort artichauts grow in the gardens of the chateau, and throughout Europe the persimmon blossoms decorate desert plates. We can often find Calla as cut flowers and grow them from bulbs; the French cousins are impressive in their size and forms. But Rockweed is exactly the same as those I find on US beaches.

Last January we visited an island off the Puerto Rican coast. My temporary studio outside our apartment was surrounded by gardens. I've changed the colors of Solandra and Aechmea for emphasis. I wanted Solandra to be pale to show off its fragility and limited the brilliance of the achemea, a bromeliad. The Dancing Hibiscus is prancing. The One-Day Philo is a blossom of the philodendron plant that begins to close-up and fades over night. I've also intensified the colors of the orchids. Cattleya was originally a pale violet; here the red tint shows off the gesture, and the green of the Orchid Verte, is more colorful, playful. The African Tulip is the brilliant flower of a tropical tree. Its color and full form attract pollinating insects and birds to the water & nutrients that become captured inside. Wild Cuke, the opposite, is a fragile shell, hollow and uninviting inside.

The Carib Lily and the Carib Lily Bud show different stages of related species of the Caribbean Lily. The full blossom is long lasting and can grow in the wild; Wild Ginger can also be cultivated; both its color and growth patterns are bold and aggressive.

Strybing Azul is the insignificant blossom of a vine grown for its brilliant foliage. I carefully collected them off the ground at an Arboretum then watched while a woman walking by thoughtlessly grabbed a handful of leaves, then tossed them to the ground. Likewise, River Road Rodo shows minor parts of rhododendron plant that are left after the petals fall. But both have their own raw beauty.

Here I've immortalized them all in these panel paintings.