Artistshots is a series of short videos by MO_Space. It aims to share a short insight into the artistic process of each artist, as well as some views of what goes on behind the scenes prior to the opening of the exhibition. These videos will range from artist interviews, studio visits, and conversations with fellow artists.

The Grass Withers and the Flowers Fade
Mona Santos

MO_Space | Main Gallery
24 October – 29 November 2020

“The Grass Withers and the Flowers Fade is Mona Santos’s exploration of finding solitude and stillness in the wreckage of best-laid plans that don’t go as one would hope.

In this new body of work, Santos offers five square paintings, the largest two spanning four feet in both directions. They are the centrepieces, closeups of floral arrangements, rendered in oil which is a typical fare for her work, and are always a delight to see in person.

These paintings are bookended by a series of photographs transferred on paper which feature floral arrangements and compositions done by Mona at home, sans workshop. And there is a graphite drawing: a simple still life diptych. It features an expanse of leaves in a vase, the same arrangement viewed from a different place.

Taken from the first part of Isaiah 40:8, the title of the exhibition perhaps appears bleak. The world turns without a second thought spared for us: the grass withers and the flowers fade. However, there comes with this, a marker of solace: ‘but the word of God endures forever.’ It is stability and permanence, in the face of a world that often feels on the brink of collapse.

The Grass Withers and the Flowers Fade shows the artist’s realisation of the futility of plans in the face of something so much bigger than herself. Here, she grapples with the natural course of life, confronting what she's dealt with using what she had. The process birthed something she didn’t quite expect but perhaps was on the way anyway.”

–Carina Santos