Adriana Varejão's Carnivorous at Victoria Mayfair's Miro Gallery

Adriana Varejão depicting Darlingtonia californica

One of my great pleasures is being able to highlight fantastic carnivorous plant art, such as this glass Nepenthes bicalcarata. Right now, in London's Victoria Mayfair's Miro Gallery Adriana Varejão's is exhibiting a collection called "Carnivorous". It is named, aptly, for its subject matter, carnivorous plants. 

Adriana Varejão depicting Utricularia reniformis' flower

What could be more delightful on a Monday afternoon than a look at some fantastic art featuring our favorite plants? What's really interesting to me, in this exhibit, is how Varejão has captured, in the words of copyright law, "what most conjures up the original" the "heart" of the plant.

Adriana Varejão depicting a Nepenthes pitcher
(The color of this photograph is off. It should be red on white, not red on yellow.)

The series of single and multi-panel red paintings on white, cracked backgrounds is quite interesting. The cracking suggests vase painting. Indeed, the advertisement for the exhibit suggests that Varejão was inspired by both Portuguese Azulejo tilework and Chinese celadon ceramics. Both of these crack over time, creating a similar background for their subjects.

Adriana Varejão depicting Drosera rotundifolia's leaf
(The color of this photograph is off. It should be red on white, not red on yellow.)

Red is an interesting color choice. It really evokes the "blood thirsty" nature of the plants. Of course, they're mostly insect eaters, not true carnivores, but the traditional red-as-evoking-flesh works well for the subject matter, giving them a sharp focus that a different color might not do.

A four-part panel painting of carnivores

 One of the interesting things that I learned from the Victoria Mayfair press release was that Varejão has depicted carnivorous plants before. She first did a series of red carnivorous plant on white background paintings for for the ceiling of a corridor of her artist's pavilion at the Centro de Arte Contemporânea Inhotim in her native Brazil. Fittingly, that pavilion featured a large installation of blue-on-white cracked tile paintings with aquatic themes, punctuated by the red carnivorous plant corridor.