Reflecting our consuming madness as much as our blindness, plastic is apprehended here as a new vanity, an expression of the denial of death and of the finitude of existence.

Splendid and upright, or turned downwards and losing their petals, flowers have been charged since the 16th century, in European art, with an ambivalent symbolism which strangely reconnects with their original use - the offering to the dead. Humanity is perishable, and the object of desire in all its occurrences (wealth, sex, power...) only hides its destiny. Memento mori then says the flower we offer...

The Nature morte series showcases sets of flowers (tulips, lisianthus, carnations) in a water invaded by plastic waste. The series is positioned at the crossroads of the pictorial tradition of the floral motif, that of vanitas, but also the formal research of Pop art and its Surrealist precursors (from Duchamp's ready-made to the painting of a frenetic consumer society by Warhol).

While offering itself to contemplation, Nature morte offers a representation - that we hope is acute - of the concerns of our time. By illustrating the themes of nature and human destiny, it invites, we also hope, an ethical choice.