Flower IX – Large-format expressive flower painting

A flower full of contradictions

Flower IX confronts the viewer with an unusual intensity. The large blossom first appears powerful and present. Luminous reds, oranges, and yellows immediately draw the eye and lend the motif an almost glowing radiance.

At the same time, the form appears surprisingly fragile. Contours open up, areas of color bleed into one another, and individual sections seem to resist any attempt at clear order. The flower remains recognizable, while its stability is increasingly called into question.

In this way, an image emerges between beauty and uncertainty.

Schmiertafel – When beauty loses its certainty

The Schmiertafel series deals with widely known pictorial signs such as flowers, smileys, trees, or figures. They are simple forms that everyone recognizes and whose meaning seems to be fixed.

In Flower IX, the flower first appears as a symbol of beauty, growth, and harmony. Yet it is precisely this self-evidence that begins to falter. The intense colors develop a dynamic of their own, forms start to shift, and visible interventions disrupt the expectation of a closed image.

The beauty remains, but it no longer appears self-evident. Small irritations create a field of tension between familiarity and change. The flower does not lose its identity, but it does lose its certainty.

Expressive oil painting in large format

At 150 × 100 cm, Blume IX develops a strong spatial presence. The size of the painting intensifies the effect of the luminous colors and the open brushwork.

The properties of oil paint play an important role here. Layers overlap, transitions remain visible and earlier decisions seem to live on beneath the surface. This creates a pictorial structure that cannot be grasped at a glance, but continues to unfold as you look at it.

Color as an independent force

While the flower provides orientation, the color follows its own rules. The deep green of the leaves forms a counterpoint to the intense warmth of the blossom. Violet, blue and red traces run through the painting, creating additional tensions.

The painting does not simply depict a flower. It develops a life of its own, oscillating between control and freedom.

Original painting by Mark Hellbusch

Blume IX is a one-of-a-kind original from my studio in Wiesbaden. The work belongs to the series Schmiertafel and combines familiar pictorial symbols with experimental oil painting and an open, process-based visual language.

Discover more works

The series Schmiertafel includes flowers, smileys, trees and other familiar signs. Together they form a series about beauty, change and the fragility of seemingly self-evident certainties.

Smear board,

large formats and

colorful paintings

I have been a freelance painter since 1997 and have worked with a wide variety of themes in painting. While until 2007 I was occupied almost exclusively with expressive painting, today my focus lies more on experimental art. My personal background, as well as almost all artistic themes can be found under “About us.”

Studio in Wiesbaden – viewings by appointment.

Direct purchase and shipping also available.