Temptation, 2025, original mixed media on canvas. 200 × 130 × 5 cm. One of one.
Finalist, Thresholds, NorthSite Contemporary Arts, Cairns, 2025, curated by Russell Milledge, Artistic Director.
Two metres tall, and it holds a room. A woman meets your eye. A serpent coils at her throat, butterflies settle on her open hand, and a crown of ceramic fruit spills past the edge of the frame - temptation refusing to stay inside the borders of the work.
This is not paint alone. Hand-built ceramic forms are stitched directly into the painted surface, the seams a deliberate echo of the marks left by cosmetic surgery. Painting, sculpture and textile held in a single work - a technique Luisa developed herself and one you won't find elsewhere.
The subject is the beauty myth and the endless chase for youth. Bite once and the rules shift: a young face needs a young neck, then youthful hands, and the chase goes on. The work is a mirror, not a lecture. It asks what you chase - and when you'll decide you are already enough.
Original - one of one, never editioned or reproduced
Ceramic, acrylic and hand-stitching on canvas
200 × 130 × 5 cm (H × W × D)
Signed lower right, with certificate of authenticity
Exhibition history: Thresholds, NorthSite Contemporary Arts, Cairns, 2025 (finalist)
A major work, and the largest of Luisa's 2025 output. When it sells, it's gone.