Colin Straub

Gardens of my dreams

Horticulture has been a lifelong passion and floral design has become a large part of that creative journey.

The journey has taken me to many parts of the world ,exposing me to the influences of some of the world’s most beautiful gardens, galleries and access to meet and work with many of the most respected floral designers in the world today, these many influences have led to the creation of this piece.

Normally I would work with a range of fresh plant material and various structural elements, but the restrictions of the White Cube forced me to challenge and redirect my thoughts to create a structure of wire and incorporate dried, but more familier, organic materials. The metal curls create a surrealist tree form covered with rose petals from last spring ,seed heads encased in silver wire cocoon and stylised foliage created from dried reeds.

The composition incorporates fragile floral elements that never cease to surprise me with their versatility, form and beautiful textural contrasts, even in a preserved state. The metallic linear structure contrasts with the floral elements and remind me of the work of Dali and Massou , creating a dreamlike image of an imagined landscape.

About the artist.

Colin Straub has been interested in ornamental horticulture his entire life and the natural progression to floral design enables him to express himself creatively with a very familiar, but fragile and often short lived, medium .

At present Colin is in an education management role but taught floral design and horticulture at a large metropolitan institute for many years, designing and presenting workshops and demonstrations throughout Australia and in Europe, Asia and the United States. He is a qualified floral design judge and has been involved as the senior judge at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show and various shows throughout the world .He is a recipient of an International Specialist Skills Institute fellowship which allowed him to further develop his design skills in Europe.

Colin is also interested in various other visual arts mediums and has exhibited works in oil at a number of solo and group shows and is represented in the Bendigo Art Gallery collection and private collections in Australia.

His other passion is ceramic design, because of the tactile qualities of clay and the limitless potential of the various clay types and firing methods. Colin has been able to throw and hand build a range of containers that enables him to further explore his floral design ideas .The decoration of the pots allows him to experiment with images, glazes and finishes that are largely unpredictable until the kiln door is opened.

Colin’s White Cube installation is his first exploration of a sculptural design without a major botanical focus and the first time he has exhibited in the Mildura region.