On International Women’s Day 2026, here’s to the notorious Femmes Fatales of Film Noir, who never did care for the rules and weren’t afraid to break them.
Pictured: Deborah Klein, Lady of the Camellias, 2026, acrylic on linen, from the Flowers of the Femmes Fatales series.
Cultivated Poppy, 2025, pictured top, is the sister work of Lady of the Camellias, 2025 (directly below, right, my previous post and HERE).
Both works examine the symbolic link between certain flowers and the femme fatale in film noir, and both were made especially for the annual exhibition ONE HUNDRED FACES, opening tomorrow at Playing in the Attic.
Perhaps more than any other flower, the Poppy, with its sedative qualities that deaden the senses of her hapless victims, is the perfect match for this Belle Dame sans Merci.
ONE HUNDRED FACES 2025 opens on Saturday, 26 April, at 2 pm. The opening event is always enormous fun. I hope you can join us.
Playing in the Attic
13 Ballaarat Street
Talbot VIC 3371
Opening times: Friday - Monday, 10 am - 4 pm
The exhibition runs to 25 May.
One of many things I relish about ONE HUNDRED FACES at Playing in the Attic is that it can present an opportunity to take new ideas for a test run. The two works I’ve made for this year’s exhibition will form the basis for a future suite of works incorporating flowers associated with the femme fatale in film noir.
Pictured top: Lady of the Camellias, 2025, acrylic on canvas board, 10.16 x 10.16 cm, followed by selected views charting the development of the painting.
As an early rough sketch reveals, the face decoration was originally intended to represent an orchid, another flower symbolically linked with the femme fatale.
The work was initially under-painted in Payne’s Grey. Aside from the flower tattoo, I had envisaged the rest of the image in monochrome - a nod to the classic black and white films from which it draws its primary inspiration.
To preview Cultivated Poppy, the companion work I created for the exhibition, go HERE.
The sixth iteration of ONE HUNDRED FACES will be launched at 2 pm this coming Saturday, 26 April. The exhibition continues until 25 May.
Playing in the Attic
13 Ballaarat Street
Talbot VIC 3371
Hours: Friday - Monday, 10 am - 4 pm.