{"id":19272,"date":"2021-04-05T08:34:59","date_gmt":"2021-04-05T12:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=19272"},"modified":"2021-04-05T11:05:56","modified_gmt":"2021-04-05T15:05:56","slug":"duennebier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2021\/04\/05\/duennebier\/","title":{"rendered":"The Haunting Beauty Of Nicole Duennebier\u2019s Flower Grotto Paintings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nicole Duennebier<\/a> collects marvels and intriguing facts, \u201ccuriosity cabinet things.\u201d Did you know, the Malden-based artist asks, that in captivity a katydid will grow hot pink if there are no predators around? “They go through a rainbow of colors before reaching hot pink and then they stay hot pink.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the idea that spawned the pink insect perched on a wilting bouquet of roses and tulips in her painting \u201cHothouse Bouquet with Katydid.\u201d It\u2019s featured in her exhibition, \u201cFloral Hex,\u201d at 13 Forest Gallery<\/a> in Arlington from Feb. 27 to April 16, 2021.<\/p>\n

\"Nicole<\/a>
Nicole Duennebier, “Hothouse Bouquet with Katydid.” (13 Forest)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Duennebier\u2019s style can bring to mind European paintings of a few hundred years ago. Part of what intrigues her about this era is it was a time when art and science, natural history in particular, were closer together. “They were trying to understand these plants.” Her guide star for this exhibition is Abraham Mignon, a 17th century still-life painter in Germany and the Netherlands. Some of the compositions come right from his.<\/p>\n

Duennebier was particularly taken with Mignon\u2019s grotto series\u2014still-lives of fruit and flowers, plus bird nests and frogs, stowed away in caves or niches. \u201cOut of place flowers,\u201d she notes. And maybe there was an undercurrent of pandemic isolation. \u201cBeing indoors and locking away all these flowery things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last spring as the coronavirus spread, Eben Haines invited Duennebier to make paintings for his Shelter In Place Gallery<\/a>, which Haines carefully designed and photographed to fool your eyes into thinking it was a regular gallery when in fact it was doll-house-sized\u2014and a kind of dream space for an art world closed down by the pandemic. Mignon was an inspiration for Duennebier\u2019s tiny exhibition there last April.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was one of the flower painters,\u201d Duennebier says. \u201cHe was tutored probably since he was a child. \u2026 I used to wish someone had forced me to paint flowers as a child. I\u2019d be such a good flower painter right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Nicole<\/a>
Nicole Duennebier, “Floral Hex No. 1.” (13 Forest)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cFloral Hex\u201d offers lush paintings of a big rough stone standing in a moonlit cove, paintings of dark butterflies alighting upon a heap of fish and fading flowers and leaves (\u201cI love how butterflies will feed on dead fish,\u201d Duennebier says), paintings of still-lives of flowers, grapes, fish, moths, pearls and shells. Some she saw as \u201cas a kind of portrait of a woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most Mignon-y paintings depict wreaths of roses collected in caves and grottos or tossed behind a glowing greenhouse. The blooms slump and fall to pieces. A spider has spun a web spanning one wreath. The mood is mysterious and melancholy. Who collected these wreaths\u2014perhaps left over from funerals or celebrations\u2014and saved them here?<\/p>\n

\u201cI found I love painting tulips. I love painting fish,\u201d Duennebier says. \u201c\u2026I like the idea of making it and putting it away in a cave somewhere, which is sort of how I feel about these painting these flowers, that it was sort of embarrassing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hex,\u201d she says, \u201cwas my embarrassment of painting flowers and feeling that there was some curse along with it. Along with funeral and decay I felt like there was some cursed element to the painting.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the back of her mind, lingers an awareness that \u201cmale painters can paint doilies and flowery things. \u2018Oh, that\u2019s interesting.\u2019 It will be taken seriously. If a woman paints those, oh, that\u2019s what she likes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The art would be dismissed as trifles. \u201cA pretty flower painting by a woman would be too expected. I had to make sure it was gross too. To push away the viewer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Nicole<\/a>
Nicole Duennebier, “Behind the Hothouse.” (13 Forest)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been such a weird time,\u201d Duennebier says. Last August, she was laid off from her day job as part of coronavirus pandemic cuts, she says. She took the time to learn new painting skills, new ways of rendering, to use her brushstrokes to hint at more than she actually details, to not need to spell it all out. And she was working a bit smaller too, painting in acrylic on wood panels 2 feet by 3 feet or less. \u201cPreviously I felt I needed to make big epic paintings. I felt like I wasn\u2019t making an impression if I wasn\u2019t making a big piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duennebier says, \u201cI had all this time to work. I felt as though it was the time to work on the things I would want to see. I feel like I always combine delicacy with raw and with decay.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was already spending a lot of time in the cemetery,\u201d she says\u2014Forest Dale Cemetery, a Victorian-era garden cemetery in Malden, an easy walk from her home. Her painting \u201cMemorial at Sea,\u201d of the rock in the cove, was inspired by a rock at the back of the cemetery whose plaque has gone missing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always loved old stone figures and the shape these things make,\u201d she says of the cemetery. \u201cNow it\u2019s also the closest green space. It used to be very quiet. I think everyone\u2019s there now.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says, \u201cAll the time, there are fake flowers, always blowing around Forest Dale and blowing around in the woods. \u2026 I liked the idea of all these discarded flowers floating around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previously:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 “Caitlin and Nicole Duennebier\u2019s Big Furry Dead Monster”<\/a>
\n\u2022 “Nicole Duennebier’s Sumptuous Paintings Evoke The Old Masters\u2014If They Painted Oozing Piles Of Meat”<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, nature, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, (hopefully) weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting. (All content \u00a9Greg Cook 2021 or the respective creators.)<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"Nicole<\/a>
Nicole Duennebier, “Portrait of an Irregular Pearl.” (13 Forest)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nicole<\/a>
Nicole Duennebier, “Picnic at the Edge of the Lawn.” (13 Forest)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nicole<\/a>
Nicole Duennebier, “Floral Hex No. 2.” (13 Forest)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nicole<\/a>
Nicole Duennebier, “Discarded Valentine.” (13 Forest)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nicole<\/a>
Nicole Duennebier, “Lady of Shalott.” (13 Forest)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nicole<\/a>
Nicole Duennebier, “Memorial at Sea.” (13 Forest)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nicole<\/a>
Nicole Duennebier, “Night Garden.” (13 Forest)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nicole<\/a>
Nicole Duennebier, “Caligo.” (13 Forest)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nicole Duennebier collects marvels and intriguing facts, \u201ccuriosity cabinet things.\u201d Did you know, the Malden-based artist asks, that in captivity a katydid will grow hot pink if there are no predators around? “They go through a rainbow of colors before reaching hot pink and then they stay hot pink.\u201d This is the idea that spawned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19280,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[362,83,847,41,846,746],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19272"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19272"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23014,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19272\/revisions\/23014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}