The Garden of Eden 2020

Editor: Jana Brike's "The Garden of Eden," an acrylic painting from 2020, has such a surreal quality to it. The figure almost blends with the floral meadow. What immediately strikes me is the contrast between the realism of the figure and the almost dreamlike quality of the setting. How do you interpret this interplay between the figure and the landscape through a formalist lens? Curator: The composition certainly offers a compelling starting point. Consider how the artist utilizes the horizon line, placing the figure predominantly in the lower half, anchoring her to the earthly realm while allowing the sky to occupy a significant portion of the canvas. The use of a vibrant palette enhances this, doesn’t it? Editor: It does. The soft pastels of the flowers juxtaposed with the bright blue sky create a visually stimulating, albeit slightly unsettling, tension. It seems she uses complementary hues. And the figure seems to be the vanishing point? Curator: Precisely. Notice, too, the treatment of light. The source appears diffuse, yet it sculpts the figure with subtle gradations, drawing attention to the textures - the lace of the garment, the skin, the flowers adorning the figure’s torso. It disrupts classical representation. The eyes shielded also removes an important representational device. Do you find a focal point? Editor: The flowers in the bra cup certainly stand out. They create a tension against the rest of the rather formal composition, don't they? They almost feel like an invasion. Curator: A potent observation! One could suggest a symbolic reading, where the blossoming florals allude to a certain level of consciousness and innocence. A bloom breaking out of constructed structure... Is this the new Eden? It is all the more arresting since there are only blues and whites set against skin tones. Editor: So it becomes this tension between form and meaning that really defines the artwork. I had not even considered that contrast to mean anything. Curator: Indeed. A study of an artwork’s formal components reveals meaning not initially apparent. And vice versa: seeking meaning will eventually invite a discussion of artistic form.