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Anya Gallaccio (1963 − ) ONE DOZEN RED ROSES

1992

“This multiple is the remains of a large installation piece red on green shown at the ICA, London in 1992. The installation consisted of 10,000 fragrant English hybrid tea roses. The heads were laid onto a bed made from the stems. When I made the piece I had been reading about a garden of love at the Chateau Villandry in France. I was intrigued by the idea that love could be reduced and categorised into different types which in turn could be presented by plants and colours. Roses seemed to be the most clichéd symbol of romantic or sexual love. I wanted to make something seductive yet dangerous. The velvety carpet hid a bed of thorns, as the roses dried and darkened they shrank and revealed the hidden layers of green. Red becomes passion or danger and, maybe, green naivety? Jealousy?… At the end of the show the roses had dried out into beautiful souvenirs. I was not interested in that. It was sentimental in a way that didn't interest me. The logical thing seemed to be to end the piece in dust. To make all the different reds one. I ground the roses to dust and bound the dust with a mixture of beeswax, linseed oil and damar varnish to make an encaustic wax crayon. Ending the work with the potential for creating another. I could have made one huge crayon with all the dust, but in the end I decided to make a multiple. The size of the crayon was determined by the roses: one dozen, two dozen, six dozen: the denominations in which 'love' is often purchased.”

Multiplication, The British Council 2001

Accession Number P6951
Dimensions 4.2 X 10.1 X 12 CM
Media DRIED ROSE PETALS AND PLASTIC, WITH BOX

Glossary (3)

Open

Installation
An artwork comprised of many and various elements of miscellaneous materials (see mixed media), light and sound, which is conceived for and occupies an entire space, gallery or site. The viewer can often enter or walk around the installation. Installations may only exist as long as they are installed, but can be re-created in different sites. Installation art emerged in the 1960s out of Environmental Art (works of art which are three-dimensional environments), but it was not until the 1970s that the term came into common use and not until the late 1980s that artists started to specialise in this kind of work, creating a genre of ‘Installation Art’. The term can also be applied to the arrangement of selected art works in an exhibition.
Oil
A medium in which ground pigments are mixed to produce a paste or liquid that can be applied to a surface by a brush or other tool; the most common oil used by artists is linseed, this can be thinned with turpentine spirit to produce a thinner and more fluid paint. The oil dries with a hard film, and the brightness of the colour is protected. Oil paints are usually opaque and traditionally used on canvas.
Varnish
A liquid preparation that when spread and allowed to dry on a surface forms a hard lustrous typically transparent coating. The covering or glaze given by the application of varnish.

Theme

Nature

Past exhibitions

MARTIAN MUSEUM OF TERRESTRIAL ART

2008
- UK, London, BARBICAN ART GALLERY

MULTIPLICATION

2006
- Chile, Santiago, INSTITUTO DE ARTE MODERNO
- Colombia, Barranquilla, MUSEO DE ARTE MODERNO
- Colombia, Cali, MUSEO LA TERTULIA
- Colombia, Bogota, GALERIA SANTA FE DE BOGOTA
2005
- Venezuela, Caracas, MUSEO DE ARTES VISUALES ALEJANDRO OTERO
- Venezuela, Maracaibo, MUSEO ARTE CONTEMPORANEO DE ZULIA
2004
- Albania, Tirana, GALERIA KOMBETARE E ARTEVE
- Macedonia, Skopje, MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
- Bulgaria, Varna, CITY ART GALLERY
- Bulgaria, Plovdiv, CITY ART GALLERY
- Bulgaria, Sofia, SOFIA. CITY ART GALLERY
2003
- Cyprus, Lemesos, EVAGORAS LANITIS CENTRE
- Cyprus, Nicosia, NICOSIA MUNICIPAL ARTS CENTRE
- Slovenia, Ljubljana, MESTNA GALLERY
- Slovenia, Celje, CONTEMPORARY ARTS GALLERY
- Slovenia, Maribor, KIBLA CENTRE
- Estonia, Tallinn, TOWN HALL
2002
- Czech Republic, Prague, CZECH MUSUEM OF FINE ART, HUSOVA STREET GALLERY
- Yugoslavia, Podgorica, PODGORICA
- Yugoslavia, Belgrade, ART PAVILION
- Poland, Wroclaw, AWAGARDA GALLERY
- Croatia, MUZEJ SUVREMENE UMJETNOSTI
- Croatia, Zadar, GALERIJA UMJETNIN NARODNOG MUZEJA
- Croatia, Split, GALERIJA UMJETNINA
- Croatia, Dubrovnik, PALACA SPONZA
2001
- Romania, Sibiu, MUZEUL NATIONAL BRUCKENTHAL
- Romania, Brasov, MUZEUL DE ARTA BRASOV
- Romania, Bucharest, NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART