The Arts Club announces Daffodils Baptized In Butter*, an exhibition of works by more than 25 artists exploring the countless symbolic, mystical and art historical meaning of flowers, while underscoring their prevalence in contemporary practice. Curated by Amelie von Wedel and Pernilla Holmes of Wedel Art, this will be The Arts Club’s first exhibition to be displayed across multiple floors of the Club – ground floor, grand staircase and first floor – thus representing the largest group show in the Club’s history. The show will be open to both members and the public from 26 September – 19 January 2025.
Defying the notion that flowers are merely pretty, those examined in the exhibition are in turns tough, stubborn, dried, dying, magnificent, elegiac and profound in their beauty. Mirroring the human condition through stages of growth and decay, they arouse the very depths of our psyches, while also taking us out of ourselves and into various modes of contemplation.
Participating artists include Alvaro Barrington, Judy Chicago, Joan Snyder, Don Brown, Zoe Buckman, Eugene von Bruenchenhein, Isabella Ducrot, Angela Heisch, Hector Hippolyte, Shara Hughes, Pierre Knop, Yoora Lee, Sophia Loeb, Nate Lowman, Nour Malas , Ivan Rabuzin, Janet Sobel, Paula Turmina, Michaela Yearwood-Dan and Anna Zemancova. *The title of the show is derived from the work of the same name from American poet and performance artist John Giorno, which features in the show.
The exhibition will survey these floral motifs through a multi-floor installation that emphasises the distinctiveness of each work and artist, while encouraging guests to find affinities between them. Flowers remain a persistent motif in the art-historical canon, and refer often to anything but themselves – the petal an icon of transient beauty, the stem an embodiment of the human physique, and the thorn a symbol of ill-fated love. Daffodils Baptized In Butter will explore how contemporary artists have engaged with this motif to harness existing connotations and discover new ones.
September 4, 2024
