Scott Livesey Galleries - John Pastoriza-Piñol - Nubile Perfection - 2017

J O H N PA S TO R I Z A - P I Ñ O L Nubile Perfection

‘It’s all about sex.’

One could leave commentar y at that, but since most of us suffer at least in par t from horror vacui, I will expand a little.

Back in the middle of the eighteenth centur y, when Carolus Linnaeus worked out a way of defining all living things, he realised that a key means of dividing up the Plant Kingdom was by looking at the reproductive par ts of each plant: their flowers and seeds.

All botanical illustration, the images which accompany scientific descriptions of plant species, must pay close attention to these par ts. Presenting an array of often weirdly shaped ovaries, stamens, pistils, petals and sepals, these illustrations often have a surreal quality that is entirely unintended. They are also often ver y beautiful, not that beauty has any real intended place in scientific description.

As a trained botanical ar tist of the first order, John Pastoriza-Piñol is completely au fait with the Linnaean system, and can create illustrations which have a strictly scientific function, where aesthetics are a secondar y consideration. However, this body of work takes us in a ver y different direction.

While the flowers depicted are botanically accurate in ever y conceivable way, these works are more of a paean to the erotic beauty of each species and cultivar, drawn and painted in the full knowledge that the flower is itself the locus and focus of sexual reproduction. The colours and patterning of each petal and sepal exist to attract insect pollinators. It seems strange that so many floral par ts seem to take on the appearance of the sexual organs of animals, or is that simply a reflection of our abiding fascination with sexuality? We perceive what we want to see.

Of course, some plants deliberately mimic the sexual pheromones of insects to attract pollinators, and one Australian species of orchid — which I am sure the ar tist will at some stage get around to depicting — has flowers that mimic the females of a par ticular species of wasp in order to entice the insect to copulate with it, thereby transferring pollen from one plant to another.

In the late eighteenth and most of the nineteenth centuries, ‘flower painting’ was regarded as a genteel lady’s pastime and even a spiritual exercise, given that flowers were so obviously the evidence of Divine Bounty. However, the works in this exhibition must not be approached in whispering reverence. These are not timid, frigid, shrinking violets or virginal mystic roses: Pastoriza-Piñol’s flowers are lush, potent, sensual celebrations of LIFE. Gordon Morrison Director Ar t Galler y of Ballarat

This exhibition has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its ar ts funding and advisor y body via the Ar ts projects for individuals grant. Timing for this exhibition coincides with The Metropolitan Museum of Ar t’s major retrospective of Penn’s photographs, opening in April 2017 to mark the centennial of the ar tist’s bir th.

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From opening speech by Associate Professor Dominic Redfern, School of Ar t, RMIT University, at the Ar t Galler y of Ballarat Januar y 2015

NUBILE PERFECTION John Pastoriza-Piñol “I can claim no special knowledge of horticulture… I even confess to enjoying that ignorance since it has left me free to react with simple pleasure just to form and colour, without being diverted by considerations of rarity or tied to the convention that a flower must be photographed at its moment of unblemished, nubile perfection.”

(Ir ving Penn) The 2011 documentar y on Diana Vreeland, ‘The Eye Has to Travel’, provides an account of her love of the work by Ir ving Penn, one of the 20th centur y’s most prolific and influential photographers. His iconic status as a fashion photographer obscures some of the subtler and quieter work he is less ‘popularly’ known for ; his flower photography. Penn’s ‘Flowers’ series was initiated from an assignment by American Vogue for the 1967 Christmas edition. This became the first of seven annual projects which Penn did for Vogue and each year he would focus on a different class of flower.

Penn’s aesthetic approach to his botanic work is similar to his fashion photography. He documents the beauty and patterns within the cut flowers and focuses on the detail, form and mannered gestures of each specimen. Whilst these minimal and austere compositions are void of sentimentality, the flower shapes amplify sexuality, beauty, ageing and the limitation of our genes. However, even the most perfect bloom in a state of decay intrigued him; symbolic of faultier’s poise while highlighting the transitor y nature of existence or providing a scrutiny of ear th’s ebullient growth.

Ar tists have long used flowers as a metaphor to express a sense of sexual embodiment. Historically, female sexuality and morality were endowed with floral metaphors in a manner that masculine qualities were not. Flower petals are like clothing which por trays sexual self-expression, vanity as well as accentuated sexuality. However, Associate Professor Dominic Redfern outlines that with ‘botanical ar t we can still find the disciplines of ar t and science expressing their joint concern for the accurate description of the world.

This genre of ar t-making is a sanctuar y in which prose and poetr y, truth and beauty, are not mutually exclusive’.

The vividly sensitive botanical works in this exhibition convey the hypernaturalism of each subject through the quality of light, colour and form, as well as demonstrating a sexually explicit form of voyeurism the presence of sensuality in scientific representation. Sympathetic to Penn’s device, these paintings present blooms in their base singularity without derivative adjuncts. They are a meditation on Penn’s skilfully arranged and highly-organised compositions, which demonstrate his exemplar y ar ticulation of the abstract interplay of line and volume.

Unconsciously, the specimens represented here come from the Ranunculaceae, Liliaceae and Orchidaceae, and have developed into an assay of primitive/ evolved plants species, both symmetrical and asymmetrical, as well as evidence of human interference and control over nature. Penn’s photographic style is mimicked with plant par ts disappearing off the page which ultimately inhabit a territor y somewhere between scientific analysis and symbolic realism. As a result, they prompt a reading which goes beyond the purely representational. There are obvious androgynous metaphors represented in these enlarged heterotic hybridised flowers, creating a focal point on the freshly emerged sexual organs of the unblemished and unspoiled specimens, similar to young fashion models, a nubile perfection.

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ORCHID IV Oncidium x hybrida 2016 Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper 60 x 45cm

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ORCHID V Phragmipedium x giganteum 2016 Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper 60 x 45cm

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C L E M AT I S Clematis x hybrida 2016 Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper 60 x 45cm

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ORCHID VI Ascovanda x hybrida 2016 Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper 60 x 45cm

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ANEMONE Anemone x hybrida 2016 Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper 60 x 45cm

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L I LY I I I Lilium x asiatica 2016 Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper 60 x 45cm

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POPPY Papaver x bracteatum 2016 Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper 60 x 45cm

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ORCHID VII Paphiopedilum x barbatum 2016 Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper 60 x 45cm

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ORCHID IX Odontiglossum x hybrida 2016 Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper 60 x 45cm

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PEONY II Paeonia x lactifolia 2016 Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper 60 x 45cm

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IRIS Iris x germanica 2016 Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper 60 x 45cm

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MAGNOLIA Magnolia ‘Iolanthe’ 2016 Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper 60 x 45cm

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ORCHID VIII Vanda x coerula 2016 Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper 60 x 45cm

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ORCHID I Paphiopedilum x sukhakulii 2016 Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper 60 x 45cm

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PEONY I Paeonia x suffruticosa 2016 Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper 60 x 45cm

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AQUILEGIA Aquilegia coerula 2016 Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper 60 x 45cm

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L I LY I Lilium x speciosum 2016 Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper 60 x 45cm

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ORCHID III Beallara marfitch 2016 Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper 60 x 45cm

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L I LY I I Hemerocallis x hybrida 2016 Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper 60 x 45cm

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NIGELLA Nigella damascena 2016 Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper 60 x 45cm

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ORCHID II Vanda x hybrida 2016 Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper 60 x 45cm

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JOHN PASTORIZA PIÑOL SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2017 2012 2011 2007 2006

Nubile Perfection, Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne Hermes-Aphrodite, Nellie Castan Galler y, Melbourne Bio-Pop, Nellie Castan Galler y, Melbourne Woodbine Ar t Galler y, Malmsbur y John Adams Fine Ar t, Ebur y Galleries, London

GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2016 Botanica 2016, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney.

2016 Geelong Gardens Revealed, Geelong Ar t Galler y, Victoria 2016 Rick Amor Drawing Prize, Ar t Galler y of Ballarat 2016 Florilegium, Sydney’s Painted Garden. Museum of Sydney 2016 The Ar t of Botanical Illustration. Domain House, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne.

2016 19th ASBA/HSNY Annual International Juried Exhibition. Hor ticultural Society of New York, New York, USA. 2015 Vignettes, Ar t Galler y of Ballarat.

2015 Botanica 2015, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney.

2015 18th ASBA/HSNY Annual International Juried Exhibition. Hor ticultural Society of New York, New York, USA. 2015 Reframing Nature. Domain House, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne.

2015 Weird, Wild and Wonderful. The Huntington Librar y, Ar t Collections, and Botanical Gardens, California, and

The Patricia & Phillip Frost Ar t Museum, Florida 2014 The Ar t of Botanical Illustration. Domain House, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne.

2014 The animal within. Ozkink Ar t Festival, D11 @ Docklands Spaces, Melbourne 2014 Canberra Botanical 2014, M16 Ar tspace, Griffith ACT. 2014 Not-Ar t Fair 2014 Exhibition. 12 Peel St, Abbotsford 2014 17th ASBA/HSNY Annual International Juried Exhibition. Hor ticultural Society of New York, New York, USA. 2014 Botanicals. Environment Expression in Ar t. The Alisa and Isaac Sutton Collection, Hor ticultural Society of New York,

New York, USA. 2014 Botanica 2014. Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney.

2014 Duets. Hunt Librar y of Botanical Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. 2014 Weird, Wild and Wonderful. New York Botanical Garden, New York, USA. 2013 Botanica 2013. The Masters and Moore Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney.

2013 Postcard Show. Linden Galler y of Contemporar y Ar ts, St Kilda, Victoria.

2013 16th ASBA/HSNY Annual International Juried Exhibition. Hor ticultural Society of New York, New York, USA. 2013 The Wilson Visual Ar ts Award. Trinity Catholic College Lismore.

2013 Botanicals. Environment Expression in Ar t. The Alisa and Isaac Sutton Collection, Royal 2013 Botanic Gardens, Kew,

United Kingdom.

2013 Canberra Botanical. CSIRO Discover y Centre, ACT. 2012 The Ar t of Botanical Illustration. Domain House, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne.

2012 Waterhouse Natural Histor y Ar t Prize. South Australian Museum, Adelaide.

2012 15th ASBA/HSNY Annual International Juried Exhibition. Hor ticultural Society of New York, New York, USA. 2012 Capturing Flora: 300 Years of Australian Botanical Ar t. Ar t Galler y of Ballarat.

2012 Highgrove Florilegium Exhibition. Berlin Botanic Gardens, Berlin, Germany.

2012 Botanica 2012, The Masters and Moore Royal Botanic Gardens. Sydney.

2011 14th ASBA/HSNY Annual International Juried Exhibition. Hor ticultural Society of New York, New York, USA. 2011 Garden to Field: An International Exhibition of Contemporar y Botanical Ar t, Southampton, New York, USA. 2011 The Eternal Order in Nature: The Science of Botanical Illustration, Domain House, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne.

2011 Losing Paradise? Shirley Sherwood Galler y, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom.

2011 Crepuscular. City Galler y, Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne.

2011 From Eye to Hand. The Shirley Sherwood Galler y of Botanical Ar t, Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, Uunited Kingdom.

2010 Exquisite Connections. Woodbine Ar t Galler y, Malmsbur y, Victoria.

2010 13th ASBA/ HSNY Annual International Juried Exhibition. Hor ticultural Society of New York, New York, USA. 2010 Losing Paradise? Smithsonian Museum of Natural Histor y, Washington, D.C, USA. 2010 Highgrove Florilegium. Teylers Museum: Haarlem, Amsterdam, Holland.

2010 Botanica 2010 Masters Exhibition. Lion Gate Lodge Mrs Macquaries Road, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney.

2010 Botanicals. Environment Expression in Ar t. The Alisa and Isaac Sutton Collection. Hunt Librar y, Carnegie Mellon

University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. 2010 The Ar t of Botanical Illustration. 10th Biennial Exhibition, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, National Herbarium of Victoria.

2009 Reframing Darwin: evolution and ar t in Australia. The Ian Potter Museum of Ar t, The University of Melbourne.

2009 Nature I.D. Jan Manton Ar t Contemporar y Australian + International Ar t, Brisbane.

2009 The Secret Life of Plants. Linden Galler y of Contemporar y Ar ts, St Kilda, Victoria.

2009 12th ASBA/ HSNY Annual International Juried Exhibition. Hor ticultural Society of New York, New York, USA. 2008 The Plasma Soul. Nellie Castan Galler y, Melbourne.

2008 Nature +Ar t II. Woodbine Ar t Galler y, Malmsbur y, Victoria.

2008 Master Drawings London. The Illustration Cupboard, under the direction of Crispian Riley-Smith, United Kingdom.

2008 Botanica 2008, Masters exhibition. Lion Gate Lodge Mrs Macquaries Road, Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney.

2008 In Plain View, Forgotten Flora. Domain House, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne.

2008 Margaret Flockton Award Exhibition. Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney, Red Box Galler y, National Herbarium, New

South Wales.

2008 11th ASBA/ HSNY Annual International Juried Exhibition. Hor ticultural Society of New York, New York, USA. 2008 The Ar t of Botanical Illustration. 9th Biennial Exhibition Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, Mueller Hall, National

Herbarium of Victoria 2007 12th International Exhibition of Botanical Ar t. Hunt Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. 2007 10th ASBA/ HSNY Annual International Juried Exhibition. Hor ticultural Society of New York, New York, USA. 2007 Winter Show. Royal Hor ticultural Society, London, United Kingdom.

2006 Winter Show. Royal Hor ticultural Society, London, United Kingdom.

2006 The Ar t of Botanical Illustration. 8th Biennial Exhibition, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, Mueller Hall, National

Herbarium of Victoria.

2005 Margaret Flockton Award Exhibition. Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney, Red Box Galler y,National Herbarium, New South Wales.

2005 Geelong Botanical Ar tists Inaugural Exhibition. Geelong Botanic Gardens, 2005 Forgotten Flora. Barrachi Room, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, South Yarra.

2005 Flora: The Ar t of the Plant. BASA 6th annual exhibition, Palm House Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney.

2005 Winter Show. Royal Hor ticultural Society, London, United Kingdom.

2004 Kirstenbosch Biennale Exhibition of Botanical Ar t. Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Cape Town,South Africa.

2004 Winter Show. Royal Hor ticultural Society, London, United Kingdom.

2004 The Ar t of Botanical Illustration. 7th Biennial Exhibition, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, Mueller Hall, National

Herbarium of Victoria.

2003 Zen Salad: Exhibition of Br yophytes. Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne.

2002 The Ar t of Botanical Illustration. 6th Biennial Exhibition, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, Mueller Hall, National

Herbarium of Victoria, Domain House.

2001 150th Anniversar y of the Geelong Botanic Gardens. Geelong Galler y of Ar t, Geelong, Victoria.

AWARDS 2016 2014 2013 2013 2012 2012 2010 2007 2007 2005 2004 2003

Finalist, Rick Amor Drawing Prize, Ar t Galler y of Ballarat.

Beyond Bank Major Ar t Award American Society of Botanical Ar tists’ Diane Bouchier Ar tist Award for Excellence in Botanical Ar t.

Finalist, Wilson Visual Ar ts Award. Trinity Catholic College Lismore.

Highly Commended, Waterhouse Natural Histor y Ar t Prize, South Australian Museum Tallas Award, 15th ASBA/HSNY Annual International Juried Exhibition of Botanical Ar t Tallas Award, 13th ASBA/ HSNY Annual International Juried Exhibition of Botanical Ar t.

Australian Print Awards. Bronze Medal. PrintBound Silver Gilt Medal, Royal Hor ticultural Society United Kingdom.

Gold Medal, Royal Hor ticultural Society United Kingdom.

Silver Medal, Royal Hor ticultural Society United Kingdom.

Bendigo Telco Outstanding Ar tist Award, 35th Annual Easter Rotar y Ar ts Exhibition

GRANTS/RESIDENCIES 2016

Denver Botanic Gardens, Ar tist in Residence Program

2016 2016

Transylvania Florilegium Residence Australian Ar ts Council Grant (Ar ts projects for individuals)

COMMISSIONS Biosis Pty Ltd, Melbourne, interpretive boards for Epsom Park (pen-and-ink).

M&C Saatchi Agency Pty Ltd, Melbourne, two pen-and-ink drawings, Camellia sinensis (Green tea) and Echinacea purpurea (Echinacea), for Berri Juice ad campaign, 2004.

The Highgrove Florilegium. This project was created under the umbrella of The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation and celebrates and records in a permanent way the Flora in the Garden at Highgrove.

The ar tist is working on paintings that may be selected for inclusion in the Transylvania Florilegium presently being created under the umbrella of the Prince of Wales Foundation Romania to record in a permanent way the flora of Transylvania.

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE COLLECTIONS Biosis Pty Ltd, Melbourne Ar t Galler y of Ballarat Collection of Alisa and Isaac M. Sutton Florilegium of plants of Government House at celebration of Federation, The State Librar y of Victoria Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne Illustrated Garden Collection Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney State Botanical Collection, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne Denver Botanic Gardens National Tropical Botanic Gardens, Kauai, Hawaii The Hunt Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh USA Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK Geelong Botanic Gardens Victoria RMIT University, Melbourne H.R.H The Prince of Wales, Highgrove Florilegium.

Private collections PUBLICATIONS Vignettes, Ar t Galler y of Ballarat, 2015.

The Florilegium The Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney Celebrating 200 years. 2016 A Tale of Two Drawing Prizes. Dr Mark Dober, Troublemag 2016 More than just flowers. Kim Anderson, Ar tist’s Palette Issue 125 August 2013, pgs. 20-29 Woodland Publishing.

Pittsburgh 2013 review. The Botanical Ar tist December 2013 pgs 16-17 Review: More then just plant porn By Kim Anderson www.ar tinfo.com.au/reviews/read/more-then-just-plant-porn 2012 Capturing Flora: 300 Years of Australian Botanical Ar t, Ar t Galler y of Ballarat.

The Eternal Order in Nature: The Science of Botanical Illustration.

Drawing as Understanding, Drawing out 2013, RMIT University.

Vogue Living, March/April 2011, pgs. 101-102 Vogue Living, November/ December 2008

By Royal Appointment, Wesley Lion April 2008 Vogue Living, September/ October 2007 The Plant Hunters: The Adventures of the World’s Greatest Botanical Explorers, Carolyn Fr y. Andre Deutsch, with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2009 Wollemia nobilis, Cur tis’s Botanical Magazine, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Volume 24, Number 3, August 2007, pp. 155-161.

Losing Paradise? Endangered Plants Here and Around the World, American Society of Botanical Ar tists 2009.

Botanicals: Environmental Expressions in Ar t Hunt Institute Publication 2009.

The Highgrove Florilegium, Addison Publications 2008.

ASBA and HSNY Annual International Juried Botanical Ar t Exhibition; 2007, 2008. 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 Catalogue of the 12th International Exhibition of Botanical Ar t and Illustration, Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania 2007.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This exhibition has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its ar ts funding and advisor y body via the Ar ts projects for individuals grant. There are many individuals I would like to thank for bringing this project to fruition.

Sara Hobel, Executive Director, Hor ticultural Society of New York George Pisegna, Deputy Director & Chief of Hor ticulture, Hor ticultural Society of New York Stephen Cour tade, Programs & Development Associate, Hor ticultural Society of New York Dr Mer vi Hjelmroos-Koski, Ph.D., D.Sc, Manager of School of Botanical Ar t & Illustration, Denver Botanic Gardens Gordon Morrison, Director, Ar t Galler y of Ballarat Nathaniel Parks, Ar t and Architecture Archivist, Ryerson & Burnham Libraries The Ar t Institute of Chicago Nellie Castan, Director, Nellie Castan Projects Kimberly Jones, Director, Pace Macgill Galler y NYC Jessica Mostow, Pace Macgill Galler y NYC Guy Betts, Project Officer, Australia Council for the Ar ts Dutch Flowerline Inc New York; Karl Stamer, Lantern Printing; James Morgan, NYC; Tania Tambiah RMIT University; Irene Forney & Gerr y Forney, Ludwig, Denver ; Jarmans Framing & Amanda Sid Ahmed.

Scott Livesey, Scott Livesey Galleries Sophie Foley, Scott Livesey Galleries Dulux Australia And my extremely suppor tive parents, Don and Jacqui Pastoriza PiĂąol

Catalogue compiled by: Scott Livesey & Sophie Foley ISBN 978-0-9925688-2-5 © Copyright 2017 Design by Canvas & Co.

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