Lemonade Photo-set: Helium (Patreon)

A huge bouquet of helium balloons contrasts with weighted, heavy limbs, there is the sense that despite this tension, our model could begin to float away, lifted by the balloons whose unique essence is the miracle of levitation. 

Contemporary painter Justin Mortimer paints unsettling nuclear landscapes where neon green balloons dominate the foreground of battlefields, the overhanging sense that we might go “pop” any moment. The vulnerability of the flesh and the ever present atom balloon bomb, mean that balloons hold both a festive and threatening quality that makes for fascinating juxtaposition.

Recommended:

• To read: An article in Guernica Mag on Justin Mortimer “Contorted View”
• To read: Interview with Justin Mortimer “Beyond Bacon and Freud”
• To watch: the gas mask scene in the Virgin Suicides movie for its toxic green nuclear colour palette
• To listen to: Air “Playground Love” on Spotify

- Laura

ps. You can find a full schedule of future releases and accompanying teaser images of each set here.

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Use the Draw Patreon Navigator to find any of our past photosets and take a look at our blogs on how to gather, manipulate and translate photo reference.

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Thanks!