Daisy Chains | 2024

a show by Amanda Seibæk and Helen McCusker

The term "daisy" originates from "day's eye," referring to the flower's cycle of closing at night and reopening with the morning sun. Helen McCusker's work draws inspiration from this cycle, exploring the interplay of darkness and light with a crimson-red palette. For McCusker, this cycle symbolizes the rhythms of life and the changing seasons. Her brushstrokes echo the 18th-century tradition of floral still lifes, capturing a single moment in time that represents the continuous chain of birth, life, and decay. "Just as a portrait captures a person at a particular age, my flowers live forever in the painting, transcending the concept of before and after," McCusker explains. Despite their stillness, her paintings vibrate with life.

Amanda Seibæk's creativity is intricately linked to the "Carte de Tendre," a map of emotions that accompanied Madeleine de Scudéry's novel Clélie (1654-61). Originally discussed in French salons, this map depicts the 'Dangerous Sea' turning into a river that divides a landscape dotted with places like the 'Sea of Enmity' and towns named 'Negligence,' 'Pride,' and 'Sensibility.' Seibæk's work begins with this terrain of feelings and behaviours.

This emotional landscape is further reflected in Rebecca Solnit's description of blue: "(Blue is) the color of that distance, the colour of an emotion, the colour of solitude and of desire, the colour of 'there' seen from 'here,' the colour of where you are not, and the colour of where you can never go." Navigating this imagined road through Solnit’s lens, Seibæk paints encounters based on distance, emotion, solitude, desire, and the unreachable.

Their shared warm palette binds their works together: McCusker's use of red radiates boldness and passion, while Seibæk's pink conveys gentleness and healing. The title "Daisy Chains" also pays homage to Ibiza's rich artistic history, where many artists have found the island to be a place of new beginnings. 

Learn more about the artists

Read our exclusive interview with Helen & Amanda