Cornucopia

"Abundance is often pictured as: a full table, the promise of “enough.” But the symbolism of plenty has always carried tension—between celebration and warning, desire and consequence. In the first work I return to the cornucopia—the “horn of plenty”—a classical emblem where overflowing fruit and flowers signalled prosperity, providence, and power. Here, that historical language is re-staged as a contemporary arrangement: a horn spilling flowers across a busy tablecloth that echoes the bold visual rhythm of Margaret Preston’s still lifes. Pattern, colour, and decorative excess lean into abundance as a spectacle. But the scene is disrupted—dead birds are scattered among the spill. In their presence beauty remains, but it becomes uneasy—held in the same frame as loss.