Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner

ABOUT THE WORK

The most coveted works of Filipino-born and New York-based artist, Isabel Diaz, are her majestic and larger-than-life floral still life paintings. Her ability to capture the highly expressive facet of the sublime beauty of flowers evokes the inherent beauty of life's brevity. Her brief artist's profile on her website writes: "Her distinct ability to observe life's complexity with unobstructed clarity is reflected in the simultaneous depth and simplicity of her work." True enough, Diaz conveys a manifold of expressions and ideas, emphasizing the melodic and harmonious string that connects brevity, poignancy, delicacy, and beauty, qualities all associated with living, being, and existing. In an interview with Philippine Tatler, Diaz says: "When I paint a flower, it's just a flower. It's not like what people say about O'Keeffe. When she painted them, they say it symbolized something else." Notwithstanding Diaz's statement, her flowers' exquisite and almost diaphanous character induces emotions and thoughts that transcend her medium. In this monumental work, Diaz presents an array of flowers, the most prominent of which are hibiscuses (gumamela) and carnations. Diaz's employment of vivid colors suggests the vibrancy and energy of life, and the way she employs delicate realism in her subjects signify vulnerability and transience. How Diaz injects gracefulness into vividness bridges the gap between melancholia and the seemingly endless search for life's purpose and limit, reminding us that life, being blissfully ephemeral, is ever-changing and headed towards an eventual denouement. Ephemerality is an inescapable labyrinth—incessant and often contradictory. It reminds us to spend time with everyone and everything we value and cherish, making us realize our fullest potential and establishing progress before our ultimate inevitable quietus. (A.M.)