Wildflower Commission Installed at New Hollywood Hospital Emergency Department
I’m very pleased to share with you my latest commissioned artwork series for the newly constructed and recently opened Hollywood Hospital Emergency Department.
Special thanks and acknowledgement to the Management Team at Hollywood who entrusted me to deliver this most recent commission of artworks for the hospital.
After some careful consideration of the interior design and layout of the new facility I decided a series showcasing the wonderful Western Australian wildflowers of nearby Kings Park would be suitably appropriate and would also help create a vibrant and positive overall aesthetic.
As the Spring 2021 wildflower season hit its stride I spent many early mornings exploring and capturing the wonderful cross section of our native flora as it ebbed and flowed, in and out of peak flowering season. Shooting on my 102 megapixel Fujifilm GFX100 and the superb Fujifilm 23mm wide angle lens I wanted to create impact and depth by getting up close to the flowers whilst also showing them as part of their broader situational landscape. I was blessed with a few mornings of still, near wind free conditions and also the occasional shower of fresh spring rain which offered enhanced colour, contrast and the joy of clinging water droplets to the flowers and foliage.
No doubt my greatest enjoyment in photography is when a series of favourable environmental conditions happen to coincide together to provide these moments of magic. Its hard to describe these moments but possibly the sporting analogy of hitting the perfect golf drive down the middle of the fairway or the timing and feel of a cricket ball rebounding out of the middle of a beautiful piece of willow on its way to the boundary is some type of comparative attempt to describe this experience. It’s something you can’t manufacture but the sport and art is in the anticipation and the subsequent timing of execution. When it does come together and the thrill of the chase is rewarded it is what gets you up out of bed, pre-dawn the next suitable day to try your luck again.
Needless to say working through the images and choosing the final selection is quite a process but once done the fun of printing can begin. To take advantage of the high resolution captured, I decided to print to a large finished size of 144 x 106cm. This impressive size allows all the detail and depth to be shown at its best and when printed to premium Canson Fine Art Canvas the images really start to come alive.
Once printed I finish the canvas surface with three spray coats of Breathing Colour varnish which adds that final pop to the colour and contrast of the ink on the canvas and seals them against UV and environmental contaminants.
The final part of the production process is building a bespoke stretcher frame which the canvas is wrapped onto. A frame of this size is quite a work of art in itself as it needs substantial cross-bracing and a high level of precision to compliment the canvas being mounted to it. Quite time consuming but the quality of finish is in the detail.
Finally it is only once installed on the wall that you can really stand back and look at the artwork/s objectively. To be able to see them in-situ really is such a satisfying moment in what is a fairly long winded process. The feedback from staff, patients and visitors alike has been very rewarding and satisfying. Hopefully a moments positive distraction from no doubt some pretty serious situations makes the it all worthwhile.
Thankyou once again to Hollywood Hospital for your ongoing support of my practice. It really is much appreciated.
This Kings Park collection of images will be displayed soon on my website.
If you have any purchasing enquires in the meantime please don’t hesitate to make contact.
Many thanks for reading.
Paul Parin
