CLIFF TURNER (S. African b. -)Painter On his Flower series:"Regardless of subject matter or how it is rendered, my focus in each painting is to create light. It is the common element that creates detail in hyperrealism but also mood and emotion in more painterly work."Since the popularity of still life painting in the 16th century, artists have used flowers as subjects to represent reproduction, mortality and the transience of life. By nature, humans are attracted to the mystery, beauty and grace of the flower. Creatures large and small are seduced by their nectar. We plant gardens and covet the blooms of a rare and delicate species. But until the 19th century, florals existed somewhere toward the bottom of the painting hierarchy.In Victorian times, new standards of etiquette altered communication. Secret messages were sent in flowers; red roses indicated love, and pink roses indicated that your love should be kept a secret. But floral symbolism varied depending on context and culture. While white flowers, like daisies, often represented youth, innocence, fertility and virtue - red flowers, like roses, were symbols of passion and love.Artist Cliff Turner creates the flower eternal, imaginably freezing a moment in time. Or perhaps these works embody the idea that everything, and nothing, changes. Cliff Turner was born in South Africa and immigrated to Canada with his family in 1976. He studied art at the University of Toronto earning his BFA in 1994. In 1998 he graduated from the University of New Brunswick with a Bachelor of Education degree.Turner’s paintings have been featured in many solo and group exhibitions in galleries throughout North America. His paintings are included in numerous corporate, publicand private collections.