Get Well Soon
"Get Well Soon” is a series of monochromatic paintings on canvas that make reference to the flowers that are given to sick or injured patients, the artist’s personal experience with chronic illness, and life in a COVID defined era. The black and white images of boutique flower arrangements are at once cheerful and morose, which embodies the artist’s conflicted feelings about remaining positive in the face of chronic illness and life during COVID. The monochromatic color scheme automatically imbues these otherwise contemporary images with an antiquated, historicized and stone-like countenance, thereby underscoring the historical significance of life in the age of COVID and the artist’s desire for it to be a part of the past. The paintings are purposefully clumsy, with the imperfections of the artist’s hand clearly demonstrating that these are hand-painted, almost sentimental images, not photographs. Though partly tongue-in-cheek, the expression “Get Well Soon” is ultimately offered more sincerely than not, with a cautious hopefulness that lacks the color of a more straightforward brand of optimism.