Cynthia Hayes Art: Look Here! Mystic Garden

Mystic Garden, painted for the Look Here! exhibition at the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, is the largest canvas I've done in several years.

Mystic Garden, 2017
Acrylic on Kalamkari fabric

48" x 72”

Two color plates in the Jeypore Portfolio of Architectural Detail were referenced. The first featured ornate Mughal-influenced arches in an image recording a marble panel inlayed with colored stone, The botanical iron work of Cyril Colnik housed in the Villa Terrace has a visual similarity, so I thought my work on this theme would be interesting displayed in the museum.

A door grille with escutcheon by Cyril Colnik

Here is a similarly-shaped arch I saw in Kolkata:

In years past, I have painted many colorful floral paintings.

Recently much of my work has been neutral grisaille painting. Longing to reintroduce bright color in my painting, the botanical theme of the floral image was very appealing to me.

My friend and collaborative partner during my year-long art residency at RedLine Milwaukee, Nirmal Raja, gave me this beautiful Kalamkari she brought from India. I loved that the floral motif was so pronounced in this design.

I stretched the fabric...

And cut a template for the symmetrical columns...

Persian floral vines were stenciled to add another layer of space:

Repetition provided the opportunity to treat each column to a variation in handling. Having the columns fade in and out of focus gives a feeling of memory or time passing.

Abstract blocks of color both recede as background and project forward in contradiction to the illusion of space.

I decided to experiment with a coating of clear glossy latex paint over the entire piece to give a shine and create rigid surface more like a gessoed canvas.