Cruel Bloom

Liam Gerrard’s drawings lie in continual juxtaposition; ominous and familiar, terrifying but beautiful, wild yet meticulously captured on paper. Gerrard’s ability to both entice and disturb at once has continually informed the artist’s practice. 

Cruel Bloom sees Gerrard chronical hydrangeas at various stages of their life cycle starting at full bloom, rich in both colour and life. Slowly, Gerrard depicts the petals gracefully starting to curl with age as they eventually disintegrate into delicate skeletons adorned with cobwebs. Like much of Gerrard’s works, the hydrangeas manifest both beauty and decay, acting as a reminder of the temporality of existence and exhibiting the beauty of time passing.