John Pastoriza-Piñol employs techniques from both the centuries-old tradition of botanical drawing as well as contemporary art. While his watercolours are executed with the precision and verisimilitude of a botanical artist, his recurrent use of iconography: floating objects, lack of shadow, use of negative space, and pointedly, often broken or disturbed specimens, would disarm the purist. His vividly, beautiful works exist in a realm somewhere between the hyper-real and literal and the surreal and fantastical. The scientific, the decorative and the subversive are daringly combined to create a contemporary narrative that goes far beyond the art of close observation John is actively showing his work globally and has secured international venues in London, Paris, New York and Madrid. John’s work is now held in numerous public and private collections around the world including: Hunt Institute; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne; RMIT University; Highgrove Florilegium and the Collection of Alisa and Isaac M. Sutton, to name a few. John is actively showing his work globally and has secured international venues in London, Paris, New York and Madrid. John has been teaching intermediate/advanced classes at the Geelong Botanic Gardens since 2005 and has expanded his teaching circuit to include interstate and international Master Classes, educating his unique approach to the art form. John was the recipient of the American Society of Botanical Art Dianne Bouchier Award for Excellence in Botanical Art in 2013. Being a recipient this and many awards and accolades has afforded him international recognition. John Pastoriza-Pinol has an exceptional ability to create a tension between the beauty and perfection of the specimen depicted and the symbolism with which it is infused. This perhaps points to the innovative and unique quality of his work. For a lesser artist this might simply be an insolent thumb-in-the-nose towards the formal requirements of botanical art, however John’s ability to render his subject with such meticulous accuracy enables him to uphold that formalism as well as to reveal to us something about the darker aspects of our own nature, perhaps showing us that we do in fact have something to learn from the natural world .
Catalogue Number 104
Fragaria x ananassa 'Strawberry'
watercolour on Arches 300gsm
450mm by 350mm
$2,500
Catalogue Number 105
Anthurium x andreanum 'Flamingo Flower'
watercolour on Arches 300gsm
650mm by 450mm
$3,500
Catalogue Number 106
Cymbidium x hybrida 'Red Cymbidium'
watercolour on Arches 300gsm
850mm by 650mm
$4,000
