Bruce Mathews transforms breathtaking floral specimens into glorious works of art. His not-to-be-missed photography show, “Flowers When No One’s Looking,” at the Edgartown library runs through the end of August.
Mathews eliminates the existing background from his still lives, which he sets up by suspending his flowers in water, freezing them, and tugging apart their blossoms or seed pods. He locks his subject matter into place with a solid black or pure white background, eliminating any illusion of depth and thereby transforming nature into elegant abstract compositions of color and shape that he composes intuitively with his keen eye.
Moving chronologically from left to right along the wall, we begin with the white background prints from around 2020, with flattened flower petals that spread out, caught in a moment of time. Those in “Yellow Flag Iris” seem to twist and turn in the wind. Shot through a car window, the petals have different levels of luminosity, sheer translucency at certain points, and darker intensity when they fold over on themselves.
Quite the opposite are Mathew’s photos with the deep black background, which increases the flowers’ brilliant hues and creates razor-sharp edges that emphasize the organic shapes and focus our eyes on the overall composition. His works are produced as giclée prints. These high-quality pieces are made on fine-resolution printers capable of fine detail and color range, giving the prints a painterly quality. This is immediately apparent when you approach the pieces, as in his exquisite “Bird of Paradise,” which, like an avian, appears caught mid-flight. Another with inherent movement is “Moth Orchid,” where three specimens float by as we gaze straight on, mesmerized by the intricacy Mathew captures with his lens.
There is plenty of motion in his black-and-white milkweed series as well. In “Milkweed Seeds No. 6,” for example, a succession of black seeds, with their dangling, wispy threads, line up back-to-back to create a fan-like arc of figures — perhaps wearing African masks and flowing robes — that whimsically falls backward from a standing position until hitting the ground. Of course, another might see a completely different scene. Each print beckons for its own interpretation, bestowed by the eyes of the beholder.
With just a few exceptions, Mathews arranges his “subjects” rather than capturing flowers as they appear in their natural, outdoor environment. There is nothing random in “Siberian Iris,” for instance, where a dominant, fabulously hued central purple bloom is flanked by two duplicate sentinels on either side, thereby establishing perfect symmetry. The title of “Arrangement No. 3 with Peruvian Lily” denotes Mathews’ intentionality with his composition. While still quite close up, he fills the space with a variety of very different flowers, which burst the confines of the picture frame.
Mathews began his photographic journey at about 18 years old, working in a darkroom and taking pictures of his own. He then studied at Boston’s Museum School and at Pratt Institute in New York. In the late 1970s, he started assisting a great many photographers, doing mostly corporate industrial work, producing annual reports, brochures, and the like, building a client list that included AT&T, American Express, Citibank, JPMorgan, Wall Street Journal, and Young & Rubicam, among others. Working with some 60 photographers over the years, he recounts, “That’s where you really learn photography. There’s nothing like it.”
When Mathews first moved to the Vineyard full-time in 1999, he started out by giving bus tours for a few years, and then picked up his own photography again. At first, he shot flowers outdoors, but yearned for something unique. Also, with health challenges, he says, “I needed to get some specialty that didn’t require a lot of moving about, so I decided to shoot flowers just in my home.” His approach, he says, “Is picture-making; that other was picture-taking.”
With his unique vision, Mathews gives us an alternate vision of the botanical world that brings nature to a high art.
Bruce Mathews’ “Flowers When No One’s Looking,” on view at the Edgartown library throughout August. Reception on Monday, August 14, from 4 to 6 pm. For more information about Bruce Mathews, visit brucemathewsphotography.com.
