Florescence

There is evidence all around us that there are different phases and cycles in life; a perfect example can be found in nature’s different seasons. While tree branches and plants are bare in the winter, we know they won't remain that way for long and will bloom again. Leslie Dolin's show Florescence, which means "the process of flowering," is a wonderful example of this through how the beauty and vibrancy of her floral paintings point to new beginnings. 

The seasons in nature hold personal significance for Dolin as she enters into a new phase of life herself. With her daughter off at college, Dolin has time to rediscover what it means to be an artist and has more time to develop her personal practice. Through creating these paintings, she has been able to process a whole host of emotions, from grief at the unknowns of this new point in life to the joy that creating art brings her. 

Taking inspiration from photos she captures of her garden, Dolin creates compositions and color palettes that are reminiscent of what she calls the "tangled gloriousness" of the season when everything in her garden has woven together and burst into full bloom. The contrast of the dark backgrounds with the incredibly vibrant flowers laid on top creates a visible representation of all the feelings that she is working through. The amount of detail in each painting invites the viewer into that process and provides us space and freedom to process our own emotions as well. 

While she is usually a printmaker, her work in this show highlights Dolin's first love of painting. Through taking inspiration from artists like Flora Yukhnovich, Mark Rothko, and Ross Bleckner, Dolin creates paintings inspired by nature that create abstraction and juxtapose a stark background with a lively composition of florals and other plants that emphasize that, while things may be hard right now, there are always new beginnings in store.