Tulipmania

2017

Giclée print on Somerset paper with screen print varnish, 30 x 42cm

For the Portfolio the artist has made an image of what looks like an exploding tulip, with all the exquisite beauty shattered in space against a dark, almost medieval, backdrop. The title refers to the mythologised economic bubble of 1636–7 when the price of tulips escalated and flower traders allegedly became destitute, fortunes were lost and families torn apart due to the gambling and greed inflamed by this insouciant beauty.

Central to the famous generation of British artists who emerged from Goldsmiths’ College in the late 1980s, Collishaw has produced dozens of solo exhibitions including at The New Art Gallery Walsall,  Magic Lantern at the Victoria and Albert Museum and his recent Augmented Reality exhibition at Somerset House. His work is in many public collections including Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; and Tate, London.

For the Portfolio the artist has made an image of what looks like an exploding tulip, with all the exquisite beauty shattered in space against a dark, almost medieval, backdrop. The title refers to the mythologised economic bubble of 1636–7 when the price of tulips escalated and flower traders allegedly became destitute, fortunes were lost and families torn apart due to the gambling and greed inflamed by this insouciant beauty.