Flowers

Black and white is always striking. Flowers are yonic. Blend well and welcome your eyes to a voluptuous wanton of emotion. That is how I describe Huang Xu's exhibition 'Flowers.' 'Beautiful', 'breathtaking', and 'striking' might come to mind when gazing into the depths of one of his blooming clusters, but for an artist who gives with such exquisite skill and emotion, I feel that the common 'beautiful' is well...feeble.

Spotlighted and framed against the walls, at first glance Xu's images erupted a slight gasp from my lips. The sharp focus of his lens stirred the petals into a theatrical waltz where they bellowed and moved in an extraneous way that was both angelic and carnal.

Suspended in black and framed in light, the flowers evoked the come hither exoticism found in the creatures of the ocean's depths. Under Xu's interpretation they looked far removed from the plum, orchid, chrysanthemum, and bamboo that they were, and erred on the edge of being beyond our world.

My first experience of Huang Xu's extreme close-ups was like an overwhelming sensual escape into the beauty of art. Through the folds and gaps of the petals, his play of dark and luminous, Xu invites the audience to an other worldly arena. The overlooked is emphasized through scale and light to compose a theatrical feat rarely experienced in still life.

I invite you to visit one of Melbourne's Contemporary Art Spaces, Arc One Gallery where you can experience his stills yourself until April 14.