Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
The series Drinking Sorrow in a Cup of Love is the first painting series by Sharon Brill.
Following a period marked by difficult personal and geopolitical events, the artist felt compelled to explore a new medium and technique for a fresh series, while continuing her work in ceramics. Through depictions of flowers in various stages of wilting and decay, she offers a powerful meditation on cycles of life, emotional maturation, and the evolving experience of femininity.
For this series, Sharon Brill draws enlarged images of flowers to scale with the human body on sheets of coloured sandpaper —an abrasive, labor‑intensive material more commonly associated with manual work than with painting. As the pigment meets the rough surface, the sandpaper “wounds” both the paint and the artist’s hands, embedding the physicality of the process into the work itself and giving the “animated” flowers another narrative layer of states of matter and spirit.
The series reflects the artist’s intuitive encounters with flowers found in gardens, nurseries, and domestic spaces. She observes their postures as if reading a body in motion, responding to the emotions they evoke—sometimes a fleeting sensation, sometimes a memory resurfacing. Light becomes a narrative tool, isolating and amplifying the story each flower seems to tell.
During the development of the project, the artist was influenced by the book Flowers Plucked from a Shrub – Transformations of the Flower Image from the “Song of Songs” to Modernist Art by American Women, by Nira Tesler. This text explores a wider historical and symbolic context: from the flower’s role in Christian iconography as a symbol of purity and holiness, to its bold reinterpretation by modern artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe and Florine Stettheimer as a feminist emblem. Within this lineage, the flower emerges as a complex, evolving motif shaped by time, culture, and gender.
“The works examine the natural cycle and the beauty of wilting, and invite a discourse about collapse and renewal, about cycles and maturing femininity. […] I feel that the intuitive decisions and choices that guided me in working on the series are based on ancient archetypes and the connection to my great, spiritual mothers, as part of a feminine chain woven through time.” Sharon Brill
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credits : Eyal Hirsch
The series Drinking Sorrow in a Cup of Love is the first painting series by Sharon Brill.
Following a period marked by difficult personal and geopolitical events, the artist felt compelled to explore a new medium and technique for a fresh series, while continuing her work in ceramics. Through depictions of flowers in various stages of wilting and decay, she offers a powerful meditation on cycles of life, emotional maturation, and the evolving experience of femininity.
For this series, Sharon Brill draws enlarged images of flowers to scale with the human body on sheets of coloured sandpaper —an abrasive, labor‑intensive material more commonly associated with manual work than with painting. As the pigment meets the rough surface, the sandpaper “wounds” both the paint and the artist’s hands, embedding the physicality of the process into the work itself and giving the “animated” flowers another narrative layer of states of matter and spirit.
The series reflects the artist’s intuitive encounters with flowers found in gardens, nurseries, and domestic spaces. She observes their postures as if reading a body in motion, responding to the emotions they evoke—sometimes a fleeting sensation, sometimes a memory resurfacing. Light becomes a narrative tool, isolating and amplifying the story each flower seems to tell.
During the development of the project, the artist was influenced by the book Flowers Plucked from a Shrub – Transformations of the Flower Image from the “Song of Songs” to Modernist Art by American Women, by Nira Tesler. This text explores a wider historical and symbolic context: from the flower’s role in Christian iconography as a symbol of purity and holiness, to its bold reinterpretation by modern artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe and Florine Stettheimer as a feminist emblem. Within this lineage, the flower emerges as a complex, evolving motif shaped by time, culture, and gender.
“The works examine the natural cycle and the beauty of wilting, and invite a discourse about collapse and renewal, about cycles and maturing femininity. […] I feel that the intuitive decisions and choices that guided me in working on the series are based on ancient archetypes and the connection to my great, spiritual mothers, as part of a feminine chain woven through time.” Sharon Brill
👉 Artistics is a Paris-based contemporary art gallery which operates mainly online. We are a team of passionate professionals driven by the thrill to discover new talents and to share their art with you!
👁 Want to see more from Artistics?
Never miss a new studio visit! Subscribe here: bit.ly/3XkpSJb
Buy unique artworks on our website: bit.ly/3JovXP6
To receive our bimonthly newsletter, subscribe here: bit.ly/3qLvZdi
Follow us on Instagram: bit.ly/43RAWjB
Like us on Facebook: bit.ly/448ROSGcapes
credits : Eyal Hirsch
