upcoming exhibition — sebastian galloway: the quiet garden

Sebastian Galloway paints ultra-detailed flowers dripping with saturated hues that are magically suspended in space. But, in his latest exhibition, The Quiet Garden, he adds a new softness with flowers fading into the mist.

Flowers – so realistic it’s impossible to comprehend they are not photographs – float through the air. Colours, saturated and vivid, leave an indelible mark: “Flowers are the perfect natural form with their texture and detail. Very few things in nature have the endless spectrum of colours that they have. Flowers are an endless source of inspiration and subject matter,” Sebastian tells us.

Since his last Handmark exhibition two years ago, Sebastian has been experimenting. The copper plates he always painted on have been replaced with a grey stainless steel that allows the colour to explode even more vividly. He also introduces a ‘misting style’ where his bright flowers now slowly fade into the background.

This is brilliantly executed in his largest work, Magnolias in the Mist. A bunch of beautiful white magnolias start out sharply in focus before disappearing into the mist. “This style adds a new softness. I want the person standing in front of my paintings to be engulfed by a peace and tranquillity.”

Sebastian Galloway’s The Quiet Garden exhibition opens this Friday, December 12, and runs until January 5.