Opening Saturday, September 21st in Gallery 2, Not a Flower Alone features new works from the Los Angeles-based artists that attempt to reflect the human experience utilizing flowers.

Lui-Wong draws inspiration from American folk art, cartoons she watched as a kid, architecture, and for Not a Flower Alone, floriography (language of flowers). Regarding Not a Flower Alone, she shares, "In this show I’m using floriography as a launching point to explore instances of what makes us human and humanity’s emotional connection to the natural world, drawing on flowers to say what can not necessarily be spoken or expressed out loud. The language of flowers is an old one who’s various forms can be found throughout time and in every culture -- by using this unspoken and cryptic language, moments of friendship, grief, rage, sensuality, and isolation are communicated and emphasized. Flowers are used as an expression of self; in them we see reflected back all of our best and worst qualities, in them we see our own fragility and vulnerabilities, our hardiness, the enduring nature of life itself, and the inevitability of death. My work draws heavily upon both Eastern and Western symbolism, referencing childhood cartoons, Victorian mourning culture, Japanese shunga, Greek mythology and a multitude of other sources to create a universe that mirrors both the diversity in our world and the unifying nature of our collective experience."

Evelyn’s instantly recognizable paintings feature abstracted figures bathed in vibrant colors. In speaking about the show, she states: "Throughout art history, whether fine art or theater, flowers denote emotions in flux. Whether these emotions are grief, rebirth, death or even a simple gesture of unrequited love, flowers can be used as transitory depictions of sadness or powerful symbols of beauty. They are undeniably used as hints by both authors and artists. This newest series of works uses flowers as a means to convey an artist reexamining process and practice, and the confidence and painstaking personal examination that comes with re-engaging with the art-making process. My figures are solitary and powerful, pondering and inquisitive, shaped by a quiet exploration of actions and consequences. The bodies contort and angle themselves as if a new un-ventured pose will beget new connections with the self. The flowers serve as a reminder that life deserves questioning, moments where words and definitions cannot be applied to the complications of emotions. Daisies may represent innocence, and roses love, but my works strip themselves extraneous allusions and lay bare the power of solitary self-introspection."