Gasp! These oil paintings {on panel} are the work of British-born, Toronto based painter Mark Liam Smith. Inspired by 17th and 18th century Flemish floral paintings, Mark’s goal is to “reinvigorate interest in the role of beauty and fragility in the mundane.” Um, mission accomplished! Oh, and ps. Mark is color blind…

“Because I am colour-blind, I long had to rely on my knowledge of colour-mixing formulas to recreate skin tones and other local colours. Later in my practice, I realized that local colours served only to restrict my expression. By viewing my colour-blindness as a strength rather than as a weakness, I began embracing the use of non-local colours to develop my work. I use non-local colours to exaggerate the idea of subjectivity.”

Ah, so fantastic! Speaking of fantastic, his newest series, titled In Bloom, will be showing in Montreal at Galerie Youn later this month. The opening reception is on Thursday November 21st at 6pm, and the show runs until January 19th, 2020.