Beata Tworek, Beauty and the Beast (ART 2024)

Beauty and the Beast examines complimentary yet opposing concepts of beauty and grotesqueness of thistles Onopordum Illyricum. The common thistles are shown not as noxious weeds, but as charismatic characters, miracles of alluring beauty and defensive fierceness. Anthropomorphic portraits of isolated plants are detailed and intimate, full of character, movement and mysterious luminescence. They are informed by a conversation between ferociousness and grace creating ambiguity between conflicting ideas of degeneration and refinement. Classical concepts of beauty, harmony, and symmetry are contrasted with grotesque, distorted forms, which become unexpectedly alluring, and surprisingly visually effective.

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