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 series develops through an ongoing exchange between intention and chance. The branches provide a deliberate compositional scaffold, while individual brushstrokes, drips, and splashes retain a degree of autonomy. Representation emerges through their accumulation, with each mark remaining visible within the completed image. The series began as an homage to Damien Hirst’s Cherry Blossoms, using his paintings as a point of departure for an exploration of paint itself. The dialogue remains visible in the density and immediacy of the marks, while this series pursues a quieter, more observational response to the subject. 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 paintings also celebrate the physical act of painting: its immediacy, material presence, and capacity to gather many separate gestures into a single image. What is transient in nature acquires material duration in paint.
