Marilla Palmer

Artifice and nature are uneasy bedfellows, but this has always been where my interest lies. The focus of my last show "Optimism Reigns and Rains" was more about artifice: LED projections on crystal rain showers, tree fungus, tiny mirrors. In this exhibition "Nature Burlesque" the focus has shifted more toward the natural, but the botanical renderings are tricked out  with sequins, holographic rainbows and glitter. 

My studio looks like the day after a storm that somehow twirled together deep woods and a burlesque dressing room. Branches piled with vintage velvet leaves,  sequins on top of mushroom prints and fungi, crystals and dead flowers are all over the place. The shadows of the twigs and branches are traced and then rendered in ink on paper. Favorite trees in Moscow, Uxmal or Stella Maris are photographed,  printed out and collaged with the renderings of branches, pressed  real foliage, holographic papers, spore prints, velvet leaves, sequins, embroidery. Botany, decay,  glamour and artifice.