About the artist:

The daughter of Mexican film director, Fernando Rivero, Victoria Montesinos was raised in Mexico but educated at a French School, and lived for some time in Argentina and France. Starting at age 12 in the Mexico City studio of master Spanish painter Jose Bardasano, Montesinos learned the rigorous veladuras technique of painstakingly building up texture and depth through many fine layers of paint. By introducing marble, sand, and stone as textural elements, as well as stenciling techniques, Montesinos creates a subtle topography for her floral universe. Most notable, she is able to achieve a nearly subliminal incandescence through a medieval method of applying gold leaf to the canvas before painting. Because this process is so labor intensive and time consuming, Montesinos will spend two to three weeks absorbed in a single canvas. "I decided to make flowers my only focus of attention," says Montesinos from her Manhattan studio. "I really wanted to explore and go inside their world, find all the textures, layers, and passages in just one flower. They are all small universes. I feel captured by their beauty. Flowers are an incredible way for nature to show the infinity of existing colors."