Protea

Protea is a 61 × 76 cm acrylic on canvas completed in 2010 and one of the more emblematic works in Walt Viviers' portfolio. The King Protea — South Africa's national flower — is placed against a deep black background speckled with white, a cosmic field that gives the bloom an almost mythological presence. Viviers renders the flower with a looseness and energy that keeps it from botanical illustration: the petals shift through pink, rose and soft lavender, the leaves a vivid teal-green at the base, the whole composition held together by confident mark-making and a strong sense of light emanating from within the bloom itself. That the protea is a recurring symbol in South African culture adds resonance without limiting the work's reading — Viviers uses the subject as a vehicle for pure painting, and the result is a piece that reads powerfully from across a room. Protea is available for acquisition.