Pollinators 2022

Curator: Welcome. Here we have Rose Freymuth-Frazier’s "Pollinators," painted in 2022. The medium appears to be oil paint on canvas, presenting a contemporary take on figuration and portraiture. Editor: My first thought? It’s unsettlingly beautiful. Those bubble helmets filled with flora and fauna, are they protecting the figures or imprisoning them? Curator: That duality resonates. Considering the title, it immediately evokes ecological themes, but through an intersectional lens. The figures, nearly identical, seem to embody a hybridized existence, poised between nature and a perhaps sterile, formalized world suggested by their floral suits. Editor: Sterile suits, yes! Almost clinical. And those heads...each a mini-terrarium. It feels both hopeful, with the potential of new life, and deeply sad. As if their identities, or even their humanity, are obscured. You know, that almost makes me laugh. Curator: Humor as a coping mechanism, perhaps? There's definitely an absurdist element. We can look at the work as a comment on the pressures of modern life. The suits could be seen as signifiers of social expectation, and the encased heads, reflections on the burdens of ecological responsibility. Editor: I wonder what kind of conversations the figures have, separated from direct sensations of touch, smell. What would a kiss feel like? It almost seems like their clothes, dotted by colorful painting splashes, betray a desire to reconnect... but where do they begin and end? The bubbles add to the uncanniness of it. Curator: Yes, there is a tension. Consider this too, the landscape backdrop: somewhat dreamy, vast. Yet the subjects appear confined, their roles prescribed, even commodified—reduced to these "pollinators". Editor: I also wonder if it touches on ideas of conformity and individuality. Beautiful, haunting. Maybe we're all pollinators now, buzzing about in our own little bubbles... Curator: A poignant thought. Ultimately, Freymuth-Frazier invites us to reflect on our interconnectedness and our evolving relationship with the environment, perhaps making it clear how complex that process truly is. Editor: Right. It seems "Pollinators" buzzes in our head, reminding us of the pretty little bubbles we often find ourselves trapped in... with all that grows around.