Coinciding with a solo presentation of ?The Hoax Suite' by British painter Justin Mortimer at the 2018 Armory Show in New York, this publication presents 30 paintings depicting dead and dying flowers, offering not only an intense exposition of still life, but perhaps also one of the most significant series of paintings of flowers in our time. Alongside new photography of all the paintings, the book features a specially commissioned essay by London-based writer Freya Cooper Kiddie, in which she investigates the techniques and aesthetics of a series that fuses decaying organic matter with corrupted digital technology. While "The Hoax Suite" is an exploration of the dialogue between figuration and abstraction, its themes are manifold, from the contemplation of mortality to faded beauty and lost love ? fragrant flowers in full bloom, as if to deceive us, soon decay. Here, in these dank, acrid, darkly psychedelic works, Mortimer shines a flashlight on the spectral beauty of death, and in doing so, reminds us that life is the agonising yet ecstatic explosion of color that fleetingly fills the void.
