The Cherry Blossoms series explores the expressive possibilities of paint through accumulated brushstrokes, drips, splashes, and spontaneous marks. The blossoms emerge from hundreds of individual gestures, allowing representation and abstraction to coexist on the same surface. At close range, the paintings dissolve into distinct marks; from a distance, those marks reassemble as flowering branches. Much of the work develops through an exchange between intention and chance. The branches give the composition a deliberate structure, while individual brushstrokes, drips, and splashes retain a degree of autonomy. The image emerges as these marks accumulate, each remaining visible in the finished painting. The series began as an homage to Damien Hirst’s Cherry Blossoms, taking his paintings as a starting point for an exploration of paint itself. That dialogue remains visible in the density and immediacy of the marks, though the response here is quieter and more observational. The branching structure remains legible even where the blossoms gather into dense fields of color. Paint becomes inseparable from the blossoms it depicts. The cherry blossom retains its association with fleeting beauty. The works also celebrate the physical act of painting: its immediacy, material presence, and the way it brings many separate gestures together into a single image. Paint gives lasting form to the blossom’s brief appearance.
