Green Hedgerow 2017

Editor: So, this is Giuliana Lazzerini’s "Green Hedgerow" from 2017. It’s an acrylic on canvas and I’m really struck by the impasto technique. It gives the whole painting a sort of textured, almost dreamlike quality. How do you interpret this work? Curator: The arrangement of repeated symbols, and particularly the flowers, seems almost heraldic to me. Do you notice how each individual floral form isn't trying to replicate reality, but to evoke a memory of nature? It suggests a landscape deeply felt, internalized, and then rendered in these repeating motifs. Are these hedgerows, or stylized, perhaps psychological, landscapes? Editor: That’s interesting! I hadn't considered the flowers as almost heraldic symbols. I guess I saw it more literally as a field of flowers, but I can see that there is something symbolic about the almost geometric shapes. Do the colors have significance? Curator: Colors certainly contribute to the symbolic language. The cool blues might signify serenity, a remove from immediate sensation. It's coupled with brighter greens and yellows that suggests growth and rebirth. How do these colours make you feel? Are they more melancholic or more uplifting? Editor: I see what you mean about the blues. At first, I found them serene, but there's a wistful quality, too. I hadn’t thought about it, but you’re right; there's a sense of memory or something…reconstructed. Curator: Exactly. Perhaps this isn't just a landscape, but a contemplation of how we remember landscapes, filtered through personal and cultural experience. It encourages us to see beyond the surface. Editor: That makes the work much richer, I think. Thanks for opening my eyes to the symbolism hidden in what seemed a simple landscape. I will keep your observations in mind.