Statement

Flowers are the stars for a myriad of activities and events including love, romance, beauty, poetry, festivities, weddings, funerals, peace, springtime, renewal, and the list goes on. It’s well known that flowers are thought to enhance moods and relieve stress. Every fruit begins with a flower. Flowers remove carbon dioxide and toxins in the air. They feed honeybees that propagate food crops. As we head into an uncertain future it seems fitting to elevate flowers to the rank of ‘superstars’ in a quest to deter the darkness of pollution and global warming.

This latest series, Flowering Stars consists of ten color lithographs featuring a comic book style most often associated with Superheroes. I have always had a fascination for science fiction and the relatively recent movie rash of super heroes captured my attention. In 2010 I made it a point to see the first run Broadway production of Spiderman: Turn off the Dark, which was my inspiration for the first flowering star, Fading Blush. Linking flower blossoms and environmental concerns with comic book visuals, I elevated these latest flowers to the role of super heroes struggling to survive in a world of miscreants and greed mongers represented by villainess shapes with protruding ‘moon spikes.’ My villains are seldom dark and gloomy but rather deceptively colorful and alluring as evil often is in today’s world. The first three prints of this series are Fading Blush, 2012, Final Assault, 2014, and Night Vision, 2015.

http://artnewengland.com/blogs/dwight-pogues-flowering-stars/

Pulling an etching proof of Dancing Dangerously
At Wingate Studio in New Hampshire. 2018