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There’s something especially beautiful about the way a tulip’s stem arcs and droops. Totally at the whim of the universe, it stretches gracefully towards the heat and light of the sun for a brief moment before succumbing to gravity and lowering its head. The fresh cut flower’s final dance is the inspiration for new a still-life series by Swedish photographer and image-maker Carl Kleiner. Titled ‘Postures’, it echoes Robert Mapplethorpe’s fascination with bending and fallen tulips. Propped up and wound around fine metal prongs, the images are painterly, dramatic studies that accentuate at the tulip’s delicate ballet.

With all the allusion of movement, it seems only natural for the series to evolve into film. Balance is a stop-motion version of Carl’s tulip series, following a few blush pink and buttery orange tulips’ rise and fall. As in Postures, the blooms are set against a stark grey background, which draws out the flower’s dense natural colour. Set to a bass-heavy dance track, the flowers really do appear to dance—their photosynthetic energy pulsing along with the beat.

And while it seems Carl has simply captured and sped up the tulip’s natural freefall and leisurely wilting, the blooms in Balance have been expertly timed and choreographed. When making the film, Carl ensured his arrangements were fast and precise, beginning with the freshest of flowers. Effectively manipulating nature, gravity needed to be considered too. In order to encourage the dancing flowers to swing and sway in the most artistic way, Carl considered how the flower’s weight would change in its dance as it slowly dried.

[Photography & video by Carl Kleiner.]

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