Artwork by Joshua van Gestel

Dedicated to distant and lost family and friends, the In bloom (memorial) series was created to act as a contrast to the images portrayed in Children of conflict. 

The works continued to use the quick, bright and heavy application of paint, which had now become a feature of most works Joshua created from the European Expressions series onwards, however for the first time he now created the majority of the works in the series 'en plein air' (in the open air). 

Works from Children of conflict and In bloom (memorial) were combined for my first solo exhibition, Impressions, which was held in Sydney in 2001.

 

"The exhibition, which I decided to hold as a commentary to events that I felt needed a voice, aimed to depict beauty in every emotion, situation and scene... to try and make the viewer react to what they were witnessing."