“…'Turbulence' refers to the rotation and re-positioning of the flowers that I have cut and re-oriented. The arrangements of flowers in 17th Century paintings did not bloom at the same time, they capture a whole calendar year of flowers which needed to be painted from blooms across 12 months. This evokes the temporal nature of life and time, life cycles and 'memento mori'; they are reminders of the futility of life..." (Aliki Braine, April 2025)
Turbulence (17th Century Flowers), is a solo exhibition featuring selected ‘Flower Works’ from two new bodies of work by artist and art historian Aliki Braine. The exhibiton is presented by Hannah Payne Art, from 24 April – 31July, 2025 at Worton Kitchen Garden, Oxfordshire.
The exhibition presents selected works from two new bodies of work by the artist, Turbulence (after...) and Twelve Months of the Year, which explore the materiality and cultural history embedded in iconic Dutch 17th-century flower still life paintings.
Braine’s ‘Flower Works’ aim to challenge traditional interpretations of the Western European art canon through a contemporary lens. Braine employs colour reproductions of Dutch flower still life paintings found in old exhibition catalogues and wall calendars, reimagining these historical images to question our relationship with their commodified reproduction and historical context.
In Turbulence (after…), Braine playfully manipulates the imagery by using a rotary cutter to slice and re-arrange the blooms, highlighting the constructed, often artificial nature of these meticulously arranged bouquets. The work encourages viewers to reconsider the seemingly perfect, but contrived, compositions of these iconic floral still life’s, inviting a critical reflection on their materiality and artificiality.
In Twelve Months of the Year, Braine creates a six-part series that explores the fleeting nature of time and the disposability of mass-produced imagery. By weaving together two images from a charity shop calendar—each originally based on paintings from the Ashmolean Museum’s collection—Braine emphasises the relationship between historical artworks and their reduction to consumable, printed images. These reworked images mimic the pixelated aesthetic of digital reproduction, while their overlaid geometrical forms and colour palettes draw attention to the luxury, trade, and colonial wealth implied by the original paintings. In doing so, Twelve Months of the Year speaks not only of the transitory nature of time but also of the disposability of the imagery that we consume daily.
In this exhibition, Braine invites viewers into an exploration of art, history, and cultural commentary. The 'Flower Works' offer a thought-provoking examination of the ways in which we engage with art and history, and the hidden complexities behind seemingly familiar imagery.
