LEMON II oil painting

This is an original, one-of-a-kind study of the inside of a meyer lemon that measures 12” by 12”.

My oil paintings turn familiar kitchen scenes into in an arbitrary space where glistening, close-cropped fruit pulp becomes its own vibrant world. Hyper-magnifying the inside of ripe fruit in oil paint pays homage to traditional still life painting while distorting the genre. Varying the scale of my paintings and the species of fruit further heightens the enigma, blurring the boundaries between abstraction and representation, the microcosmic and macrocosmic, attraction and repulsion, and whimsy and the scientific. The imagery is readily identified as organic but from there it can take over the imagination.

Lemons are loaded with symbolism but often represent prosperity, longevity, healing, and fidelity in love. I actually grew this lemon on my potted Meyer Lemon tree!