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[av_heading heading=’Floria Tosca: Beauty and The Beast’ tag=’h1′ style=’blockquote modern-quote modern-centered’ subheading_active=” size=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” subheading_size=’15’ av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” color=” custom_font=” margin=” margin_sync=’true’ padding=’10’ link=’manually,http://’ link_target=” id=” custom_class=” av_uid=’av-ke9h8uv7′ admin_preview_bg=”][/av_heading]
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WITH LAVISH COLOUR AND INTRICATE DETAIL, FLORIA TOSCA TAKES US INTO A WORLD PULSATING WITH LIFE. SEB NELSON WRITES.
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After completing a medical degree in 1992 and working as a doctor for nearly a decade, Floria Tosca swapped her stethoscope for a paintbrush. Yet through her painting practice Floria has maintained a keen scientific focus.
The world she constructs is beautifully surreal, with a frightening undercurrent. In Floria’s world, bees and wasps are as large as birds; bats feast on insects as two deer procreate below; and poppies emerge from the eye socket of a skull. Death is as present as life in these beautiful yet macabre works. “For me, making work is telling my story and showing the way I see the world,” tells Floria. “I am passionate about the natural world and I want to advocate for it by expressing my joy and delight. Not only in the obvious beauty but also seeing the fullness of the cycle of life, the decay, the dark side, the grotesque.”
Floria graduated from the National Art School in Sydney in 2001 before moving to Canada to continue her studies at the Nova Scotia School of Art and Design in Halifax. Now with three degrees under her belt, including her medical degree, Floria has perfected her style and subject. With vivid flesh-like colours, intricate detail and multifaceted compositions, she explores our complex communion with the natural world. Her sophisticated and refined skill brings to light our sensitive and bizarre world.
Floria’s studio in St Peters, Sydney, is a labyrinth of inspiration. Skulls, taxidermy animals and dried flowers line the walls while podcasts such as Myths Baby, a feminist take on Greek mythology, drum in the background and inform her works. This immediate world around her is translated to canvas in watercolour, acrylic, gouche and pencils, allowing Floria to build layers of detail while maintaining a beautiful painterly quality. More recently Floria has widened her practice to include works painted directly onto animal hides as well as animation works, allowing her to shift her subject to new mediums with their own history and language. The more we enter the complex worlds she creates, the more questions we’re left asking.
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