Ahhh, Manet’s flowers and Gauguin’s Polynesia … but with a twist. These “book” oil paintings on canvas are the beautiful work of UK based painter Lara Davies. Here is her artist statement:

“Lara’s work explores the notion of painting as a method of re-portrayal, where layers of removal from the source subject transform it into something with a different, often playful new life as a painting. The environment of the studio is a constant in Lara’s work, and her paintings come from the objects that inhabit the studio alongside her.

Recently Lara has been making paintings of reproductions of other artists’ work from the books that live in her studio. As painters, inevitably we learn from and are influenced by the canon of work which has come before our own, and by making paintings of these paintings, Lara is unapologetically acknowledging these influences.”

Love.

*Install image above is from Art Athina over the weekend. Edinburgh’s Arusha Gallery was showing Lara’s work along side the work of Eleanor McCullough.