Please Don’t Smell the COVID Flowers

Title: Please Don’t Smell the COVID Flowers

Size: 20 inches x 16 inches x 1 3/8 inch deep acrylic on canvas

COVID-19 virus images reimagined as flowers in a flower field.

As a painter of nature and floral landscapes, my works frequently convey a feeling of being revitalized by a breath of fresh air. This piece highlights the disconnect between breathing to rejuvenate versus fear of inhaling. When the pandemic first hit the news, I puzzled over the paradox of the striking images of the virus versus the ugliness of the pandemic it spawned. In similar contradictory fashion, the red-streaked beauty of poison oak came to mind. With poison oak, the warning “look, but don’t touch” is well known. I’ve made this virus visible as a COVID virus flower meadow, and so the warning instead becomes “look, but don’t breathe.” Ironically, I wore a mask while painting this piece due to the policy in effect at my art studio.

A print of this painting was displayed in 2021 in a serial exhibition named “Holding the Moment: A Public Art Initiative Responding to COVID-19” that was held by the City of San José Public Art Program and the Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport.