In Cultivation of Contradictions (in the Garden with Sottsass), I propose the garden as a system and an act of rebellion, a space where grids, patterning, and cultivation are always upstaged by contrary growth. Using the exuberant visual style of Ettore Sottsass and the Memphis Group, I combine decorative geometry into botanical forms, with acidic colors and elements that exist somewhere between leaves, furniture, architecture, and punctuation. The painting celebrates contradiction as something to cultivate rather than reconcile. Useful and ornament, nature and design, order and excess all grow together improbably.
24 inches x 24 inches | Acrylic, vinyl, and ink on canvas.
Ángel Rafael Vázquez-Concepción 