VASES FROM THE MET

After her successful first showing at Saint Cloche in 2015, Adriana Picker is back with an exciting body of work inspired by her time in New York.

Set to a floor to ceiling mural as a backdrop, and in a departure from her well-known style, this new body of work is a tribute to the many days Adriana spent exploring the gigantic collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. THE MET offered her a very important place of inspiration, refuge and connection in a new city.

Adriana enjoyed spending her days visiting old friends like Monet, Degas and Rodin, but the most important pieces to her have not necessarily been famous works of art – but the wonderful collections of decorative art that tell stories of domestic life across the ages. The experience of visiting the MET can be utterly overwhelming and Adriana likes to approach each visit with a different focus – marble sculptures, florals, and vases. By focusing on vessels in this body of work she gives the viewer an opportunity to accompany her on a tightly curated tour of her personal MET.

Painted in large scale with vibrant colours, these very opulent domestic pieces are transformed and given new life. The joy of discovery is evident in the work and expressed through this exuberant use of colour. Detail and form are illuminated and celebrated. And what would Adriana’s work be without its signature florals, so liberties are taken with the original patterns which are augmented with additional botanics.

Adriana was born in Australia where her love and connection to the natural world began and has lived in the mountains, by the coast, in the countryside, and in the city, but always manages to find flowers anywhere she goes. She now spends her days in New York City.

She is an artist and illustrator with a lifelong passion for botanical illustration, and for the real thing – flowers and plants. As an artist Adriana has held numerous exhibitions of both her illustrative work and paintings, including 2017’s A Brightness Falls with The Design Files TDF Collect. Her illustration and design clients range over high-end advertising and media clients including Vogue, Planned Parenthood New York, Moleskine, Gourmet Traveller, Absolut Vodka, Mecca Cosmetics, and T2. Her costume illustration has featured extensively in high profile film productions most notably for The Great Gatsby, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Hacksaw Ridge.

Adriana has illustrated 3 books, The Garden of Earthly Delights, Where the Wildflowers Grow, and The Cocktail Garden, all published by Hardie Grant Australia.