GLENDALE, CA.- Forest Lawn Museum presents “In Bloom: Flowers in Contemporary Art,” an exhibition exploring contemporary approaches to the timeless floral theme. The media and artworks in the exhibition vary dramatically, with paintings, sculptures, installation, and video that range from naturalistic to abstract, and from playful to contemplative. “In Bloom” features the work of David Flores, DABSMYLA, Francesca Gabbiani and Eddie Ruscha, Simonette David Jackson, Jasmyn Marie, Analia Saban, Kim Schoen, and Tiffanie Turner, with new works by most artists. The exhibition is on view from until February 15, 2026.
David Flores is a best known for his large-scale murals as well as his segmented style, which contrasts bright swaths of color with dark outlines. He skillfully manipulates positive and negative space, while incorporating his street-art style into delicate floral subjects. For “In Bloom,” Flores has utilized a variety of formats, including large-scale paintings and an anodized aluminum bouquet.
DABSMYLA, the husband-and-wife artistic duo, have long embraced flowers for their beauty and whimsy. In addition to three acrylic-on-canvas paintings, they have created more than 100 glazed ceramic flowers, which are displayed as part of their Cosmic Flower Shop, an immersive installation created specifically for Forest Lawn Museum’s galleries. The artists are known for building immersive environments that enhance their works and blur the lines between real life and fictional dreamscapes. These multiple layers of world-building allow DABSMYLA to create an expansive story that unfolds as viewers engage with their artworks.
Another pair of artistic collaborators, Francesca Gabbiani and Eddie Ruscha, have teamed up to create several new artworks. Using their individual signature styles, the vibrant series combines psychedelic, fluid airbrush paintings from Ruscha with crisp hand-cut and painted elements from Gabbiani. The resulting images pulsate with depth and texture. The series not only highlights the aesthetic beauty of Southern California cacti and flowers, but also explores cycles of life, renewal, and the resilience of these plants.
Simonette David Jackson specializes in pen and ink artworks combined with paper assemblages. Some of Jackson’s favorite subjects are her family and the array of flora and fauna in her San Fernando Valley neighborhood. For “In Bloom,” she has created a new artwork inspired by the millefleur style used in Medieval tapestries. From the French term for "thousand flowers," the millefleur style features intricate plants and flowers, typically as an ornate backdrop for larger figures. Jackson’s new artwork will be displayed alongside several of Forest Lawn Museum’s Medieval stained glass windows, which will remain on view during the exhibition.
Inspired by centuries-old Dutch still life paintings and modern fashion, Jasmyn Marie is a preservation artist who blends natural beauty with contemporary craft. Real flowers are encapsulated in multiple layers of resin, allowing her to create sculptural pieces that maintain the natural form of each bloom. The dimensionality of resin enables Marie to play with depth and light, thereby creating dramatic scenes imbued with rich colors and textures.
Analia Saban is a prolific artist who is constantly experimenting with new techniques and subject matter. Working across mediums, she dissects and reconfigures traditional notions of painting. “In Bloom” features six of Saban’s floral paintings, which are machine-rendered acrylic on canvas. By using industrial technologies and subjects from nature, she reveals the strange beauty and paradoxes of life in the twenty-first century.
Kim Schoen created a new single channel video installation, Oracles, which will debut in the exhibition. Oracles is a looped video work that features roses encased in spinning orbs. As they spin, their center ‘eyes’ look out to the world that surrounds them and the future they portend. Schoen asked artist-collaborators to make ‘oracular pronouncements’ based on three Delphic Maxims that address time and aging. Forest Lawn Museum will play these sound works in scattered sites around the museum on specific days. Invitations will be found on QR codes available on plaques displayed near the video work.
Five artworks by Tiffanie Turner are featured in the exhibition. Turner is known for her large-scale paper sculptures made primarily from Italian crepe paper, which combine realism with preternaturally large and exaggerated forms, using their floral familiarity and resemblances to other earthly forms to draw the viewer in. Much of this work appears aged or metastasized, and addresses subjects like ageism, sexism, exceptionalism, conventional beauty standards, generational differences, marriage, wonderment, joy, and some of the darker parts of American culture. She draws on her experience as a retired California architect to build these works, which can take between two to five months each to complete, and can grow to larger than five feet wide.
“I’ve always viewed flowers as an artistic expression of the natural world. They dazzle the eyes, entice the senses, and provide an endless source of inspiration for artists. While the beauty of blooming flowers is fleeting, artworks allow for an eternal bloom,” said exhibition curator and Museum Director James Fishburne, PhD. “It’s especially poignant that this exhibition is occurring within a memorial park,” he continued. “Flowers are an important part of honoring the people we’ve lost, serving as a memento mori; a reminder to remember death and savor life and its joyful moments. ‘In Bloom’ gives us a chance to reflect on beauty and the traditions associated with celebrating our loved ones.”
