Holly Osborne's latest collection, Floral Escape, unfolds as a series of emotional timestamps, each piece capturing the fleeting intensity of personal moments. The title stems from a specific painting-created in the throes of a summer romance that transformed as quickly as the season shifted. "Love has a way of consuming my life," Osborne reflects, "and I think that energy finds its way into my work."
Osborne's practice flourishes in the quiet hours of late afternoons and nights, when the absence of interruptions allows her to pour herself fully into the work. "In the beginning stages of a new painting, I turn it often and work on it in all four orientations," she explains. "I'm trying to figure out the composition, trying to see any figures that show up."
Tall, narrow canvases shape this collection-a format Osborne has gravitated towards in recent years. "Perhaps it's thanks to these phones," she muses. "But I'm really intrigued by a profile format for a landscape. It's something new and untraditional, I suppose. It keeps me excited, and this sort of problem-solving is good."
Some works span years, with layers revisited and reimagined over time. Early marks remain visible, offering glimpses of the painting's evolution, like entries in a visual diary. "I'll make some beginning marks, love how they live on the canvas, and sometimes present it to the world. But if the work stays with me, I may eye it across the room and decide it needs ____." Osborne notes. This ongoing dialogue with her work creates a deeply personal connection. "It's honestly hard to give them up, especially when I see years of history in it."
"Every painting has a meaning and a memory," she explains. "When (and if) I see it again, it's like a scent or a song-I remember everything about that moment in time."
Floral Escape offers a window into Osborne's world, in which each piece serves as a marker of time, emotion, and transformation. These fleeting moments of life and love linger on the canvas, inviting reflection long after the paint has dried.
