From budding to decay
A major solo exhibition by Canadian artist Zachari Logan explores death, transition and rebirth through the lens of flowers. On view now at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.
Zachari Logan, Dead Flowers No. 2 (detail), 2022. Pastel on black paper. Courtesy of the Artist and Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto.
Canadian contemporary artist Zachari Logan celebrates and embraces the complete life cycle of flowers – from budding to blossoming to decay. Currently on view at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, Logan’s solo exhibition Remembrance explores the passage of time using depictions of flowers in various states of transformation. In this collection of works, Logan ruminates on themes of mortality and the interweaving of body and land.
Originally from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Logan works mainly in drawing, ceramics and installation. Through his practice, he unpacks the relationship between masculinity, identity, memory and place. His work has been exhibited widely, in group and solo exhibitions throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Logan’s pencil drawing, Wild Man 13, was on view at the AGO last year as part of the group exhibition Blurred Boundaries: Queer Visions in Canadian Art. He is most recognized for his large-scale, colourful pastel drawings that depict a spectrum of botanical elements (flowers, shrubbery, fruits and vegetables) as well as various wildlife, blended into alignment with his own body or face. Additionally, he creates unicolour iterations of this style of work using blue or red pencils only. Remembrance is comprised of all the above, conveying the full scope of Logan’s practice.
Zachari Logan, Blooming Bones, 2019. Blue pencil on mylar. Courtesy of the Artist.
In addition to flowers, weeds hold a special thematic place within the exhibition. Logan sees them as an analogy for those living on the margins, and he developed this perspective reflecting on his time growing up in Saskatchewan. In a video accompanying the exhibition, he states, “living in a place like Saskatchewan – that can be a little marginal for certain peoples – I started thinking about the weeds as stand-ins for queer bodies, or othered people.” Sharing how this adds to the themes of transition in the exhibition, he then asserts, “…where the weeds are on the sides of the roads – that sort-of liminal space – [is reminiscent of] a queer space on the Prairies.”
Zachari Logan, Urn (Moon Flowers), (detail), 2022. Pastel on black paper. Courtesy of the Artist and Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto.
Among the central components of Remembrance are large-scale wall drawings done in graphite, positioned around various works throughout the exhibition. Logan’s intention was to create an impermanent element to the show, to be witnessed by visitors then never seen again. This powerful homage to the theme of Remembrance can only exist in the memories of those who view it.
In celebration of the exhibition, Canadian choreographer Sébastien Provencher and artists Rodney Diverlus and Drew Bathory conducted live choreography sessions in the Peabody Essex Museum and the Ropes Mansion Garden. Footage from these sessions has been used to create a film that explores the idea of transformation and the healing potential of grief through gesture and movement.
Remembrance is on view now at the Peabody Essex Museum until May 2023.