Scanning flowers gives these beautiful objects a unique rawness, detail, intensity and eeriness. Some examples below are complication arrangements and others just a single bloom, others use plastic flowers and digital alteration.
Image one, four and seven by Katinka Matson, image two by Pantry Violets, images three, five and six by Yedda Morrison.
Who Wore It Better is a blog curated by Alison Feldish and Derek Frech which compares similar artworks. Click on the image to view its creator.
Henry Darger is an artist and writer with an unusual story. He was orphaned and institutionalised as a young child and spent his adult life living as a recluse in Chicago. It was only after his death that Darger’s landlord discovered an epic 15,145 page narrative titled The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion.
The story follows seven young girls as they fight against a variety of sadistic adults while being protected by a slew of fantastical animals. The writings are accompanied by several hundred drawings and watercolour paintings. Some of the images are calm and filled with flowers. Others a violent and tortured. It’s an incredible juxtaposition between innocence and extreme brutality, and gives us a glimpse into the mind of this mysterious man.
Jessica Yu made a film about Darger and his work The Realms of the Unreal (2004).
Although Karl Blossfeldt’s botanical photogravures are his most famous work, he was also a well respected sculptor and professor of art. His interest in and eye for form and texture are evident in these images, which are striking in both the complexity of the subject and the simplicity of his photographic style. He used a homemade camera and had his work published in 1929 in his book Urformen der Kunst (Archetypes of Art).
Whitechapel Gallery in London is currently exhibiting a selection of his images until June 14, 2013.
All photographs by Karl Blossfeldt.
New York based artist Matt Wisniewski uses found photographs to create these captivating digital collages.
All artwork by Matt Wisniewski.
Recently I commissioned my friend Lucy Allen to create some of her quirky botanical drawings. Two as a gift for my boyfriend, two for me. Each plant has an animal lurking in it. Try and spot the squid, fish or squawking birds. I had them framed in pairs in dark wood, floating about an inch off the back.
The Secret Garden 
