In his latest series, For You!, John Arsenault captures the beauty of the everyday by photographing roses close-up. Though Arsenault has pursued many different projects, including an ongoing series of self-portraits, these photographs show a tender, romantic side of the artist steeped in the history of art. In the aesthetic tradition of Georgia O’Keeffe, the tightly-focused images of the details of flowers are a 21st-century update on a subject that fascinated many artists back to 17th century Dutch flower painters.
Making the photographs with his iPhone and uploading to Instagram, Arsenault is able to receive instant feedback on new images from his followers. This new technology allows for images in this series to be made at a moment’s notice.
Arsenault has said of this work: “I’ve always loved taking photographs of flowers because it reminds me of my late grandmother Elizabeth, and this is a way for me to honor her and my family roots.”