Painter depicts politicians including Keir Starmer in the form of plants
Emily Powell, 34, has depicted politicians including Angela Rayner and Lady Thatcher.
A painter who feels “a strong emotional reaction to colour” has depicted politicians including the Prime Minister as plants.
Emily Powell, 34, has synaesthesia, a perceptual phenomenon which causes her to see the world through the lens of colour.
Ms Powell, who has a studio in Dartmoor, said when she meets people, she often thinks of ways to showcase who they are through colour.
“Building a colour profile in my mind is how I make sense of people,” she told the PA news agency.
“As I get to know them more shades and colours are added.”
In her series called “the Greenhouse of Commons” she has reimagined political commentators and politicians including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, former premier Lady Thatcher and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner as floral displays, with different colours used to typify the qualities she feels they convey.
Ms Powell, who is a political podcast enthusiast and has a particular fondness for Newscast and The Rest Is Politics, said she depicted the Prime Minister as a plant in a “sensible pot” to represent his practical nature.
“I listen to a lot about him so then you pick up a read on how he’s presenting himself to the general public and I feel like he hasn’t burst into flower yet,” she said.
“I have used the colour green as I hope for more from him, and then there’s that dark blue to represent that deep-thinking quality to him and he’s very, very sensible so that’s also why he’s a very sensible pot and very square.”
Ms Rayner has been likened to flowers, with Ms Powell saying the “bright clashing tones” signal that she is “full of life”, while Lady Thatcher is seen as a bouquet in a lofty vase.
Neon pink features in the Thatcher piece to illustrate her “ambition and that slight feeling of alarm”, with dark blue and charcoal grey representing her links to the closure of coal mines and the feeling of unhappiness.
Ms Powell said she tends to layer colours until she finds a balance which feels “emotionally right to me” and finds the process of creating art “addictive”.
“If you get a good shade of pink next to a good shade of green, it just sends off fireworks in my brain,” she added.
“I get such a strong emotional reaction to colour that if I get the right colour combination and the right balance, it’s addictive.”
She said she has a particular fondness for pink and yellow as they are often associated with “warmth”.
“I feel like they’ve got a lot of kindness,” she added.
Ms Powell will be showcasing a series of bold floral works celebrating the arrival of spring at London’s Portland Gallery from February 20 to March 7 in an exhibit called Emily Powell: Paintings on Prescription.
“It’s all about offering colour as a medicine, and an antidote to grey,” she said.
“I’ve tried to present it in an environment where you can see the paintings in your home, so it’s got fruit and plants and lots of colourful flowers and hand-painted furniture.
“It’s not a flat exhibition, it’s very dynamic and it’s all about feeling.”
She said a piece called “He Bought Her The Whole Florist”, which will feature at the exhibit, really “stands out”.
“It’s got a lot of fresh apples in it and it’s just wild, happy, abundant, I completely haven’t held back,” she added.
The political portraits will also be on show on request.
