Flora Flora

A majestic natural art scene captured on canvas and paper by artists William Noonan and Joe Radoccia will energize the cozy space of Gallery 40. These two artists bring their uniquely different approaches to this timeless subject matter.

For Joe Radoccia, it is the spirit of flowers that holds his attention. Heedless of botanical accuracy, classifications, kingdom, phylum…genus or species, these paintings are simply portraits, portraits of individual blossoms in all their wild unruly proud and beautiful absurdity. “I turned to flowers as models to free up my hand in the studio, loosen my brush stroke and breathe greater freedom into my line and gesture. But ultimately flower painting has led me to look more closely at every leaf and petal, and to open my eyes to the miraculous almost surreal natural world all around me.”

William sees the flowers as nature’s candy for the eyes. “I enjoy bringing these ephemeral models into my studio. The succession of bloom in my garden is a constant source of inspiration. I like having them accompany my stable of still life objects to create elegant and sometimes quirky set-ups. My still life paintings have a personal idiosyncratic vibe to them. I enjoy playing with the positive and negative shapes, letting objects fall off the page or disappear behind a neighbor. The time and care I take in creating the set-up for the painting is just as important as the time spent on the canvas itself.”

Opening Reception: Saturday, July 1, 2023 5-7 pm On display through July 30, 2023