Gillian Stam

I love to subvert expectations when it comes to my work, surprise and intrigue the viewer, presenting them a piece that could be seen as one way originally, but shifts in meaning and depth the more they look at it. This process of taking seemingly mundane imagery and putting it in a piece that changes it into intriguing artwork is something I wanted to apply to this project. I was greatly inspired by the work of Georgia O'Keeffe, who paints still-lives in interesting and unconventional ways, and Salvador Dali who was a master at painting fantastical scenarios in a hyper-realistic style. Learning about the theme of still-life gave me the idea to take a page out of both their books, and represent still-life in two different ways; the stereotypical still-life of flowers floating at the top of the piece, and the figure captured in stillness falling toward the ground, combining the two to make an image that is unexpected and compelling.