Swarm | Altered Perspective Painting | Still Life Blooms

A signed oil painting sourced from a European market depicts a quiet interior still life. A dark glass vessel set on a draped cloth, a green glass lamp and stacked books receding into the background, the whole scene rendered in cool blues, slate and warm grey. It is a considered, accomplished work. And then Leslie Oschmann has intervened.

Stitched directly onto the painted canvas is an exuberant, densely layered arrangement of textile flowers built from wool, ribbon, raw fibre and embroidery thread in crimson, scarlet, golden yellow, cream, blue and soft orange. Each bloom is individually constructed, some with tiny beaded stamens, some with silk ribbon petals, some unravelling into loose, wild filaments. No two are the same. The painted flowers that once occupied this vase have been replaced or perhaps answered by something three-dimensional, unruly and alive.

The painted world recedes. The textile world pushes forward. The result is a conversation between two artists across time, medium and intention.

Ready to hang. One of a kind.