Stieg Pers­son
Bloom

These 84 water­colours, enti­tled Bloom, were con­cep­tu­alised as a coun­ter­point to intro­spec­tion by embrac­ing the method­ol­o­gy of James Joyce in his nov­el Ulysses, util­is­ing mul­ti­ple per­spec­tives, social obser­va­tion, inner dia­logue and allu­sions and ref­er­ences to lit­er­a­ture, music, art, mythol­o­gy, and history.

In keep­ing with this ethos, more than one Bloom fed the imag­i­na­tion. Along­side Leopold, there was the bril­liant and flawed cur­mud­geon Harold Bloom, the ​“One hun­dred flow­ers bloom” pol­i­cy of Mao Zedong used to flush out and pun­ish dis­sent under the guise of free and open dia­logue, and Bia­ly­stock and Bloom, fic­tion­al char­ac­ters that embody the comedic sen­si­bil­i­ties of ​“Borscht Belt” humour. Adja­cent to the high art imagery, pro­sa­ic food­stuffs: meat pies, Coca-Cola, chick­en parmi­giana and bread and but­ter co-exist with Haute Cuisine.

All the Blooms are now deeply out of favour, some more so than oth­ers, and this is reflect­ed in many of the themes and sub­ject mat­ters used here, once sta­ples of West­ern art, now dis­par­aged, ignored, unwant­ed, and unloved. And it is pre­cise­ly this con­di­tion, this ​“irrel­e­vance,” that I find empow­er­ing, a source of suc­cour and nour­ish­ment.
Bloom is simul­ta­ne­ous­ly a requiem and a path to renewal. 

Stieg Pers­son, 2023