Jon Oskar  |  Reykjavik, Iceland

untitled, 1992
oil, wax on canvas, 180x361cm

An uncanny ambience radiates from the painting. Out of the darkened background black flowers appear, like les Fleurs du Mal*. Oskar has taken a typical image of decorative design, enlarged it and mutated it into something haunting. The canvas has been rigorously worked upon through scratching, smudging, staining and erasing, using oil paint and wax.  On top of the textured surface, the floral design emerges in sensuous brushstrokes, giving it a velvety and almost Baroque quality. The once elegant pattern has now been cast into a twilight zone, conjuring a fascinating memento mori.

*Les Fleurs du Mal, translated as "The Flowers of Evil", is the title of a volume of poetry by the French poet and critic, Charles Baudelaire, first published in 1857.