Malle Leis 1940–2017 Great Mullein. Family Party. 2012

Bottom right: LEIS 2012

Malle Leis was conceptual and consistent in choosing her subject matter: macro enlargements of the plant world, picturesque and at the same time laboratory study of flowers or even vegetables, so that they turned from objects into symbols. Leis' unmistakable sense of color allowed her to use unusual or strong tones, thus moving even further away from the labels often attached to female authors. She was not a flower painter, and at the same time, of course, she was - but she was not interested in flowers simply because of their nice appearance or homely coziness, but a certain greater and deeper energy, field of meaning, size hidden in them. This painting belongs to Leis' wider series of nine paintings (2012-2013). "The counter-directional and branching choreography of individual flowers and stems on a yellow background is an extremely eloquent and intellectually exciting marker of age, but why not the functioning of the soocium (or some other system)," writes Kaire Nurk.