–The San Luis Obispo Museum of Art is presenting Fleurs Mortes, paintings and drawings by Buena Park artist Carol Goldmark on exhibit until Oct. 2.

Goldmark’s artwork portrays flowers and other themes surrounding the fleeting nature of flowering plants. But these aren’t your garden-variety still lifes. Goldmark uses flowers and insects in varying degrees of vitality as metaphors for life and death, beauty and decay, the passage of time, and the gradual disintegration of human flesh, bones, and organs. The resulting hybrid imagery explores the metaphysical relationship between flowers and flesh.

Goldmark’s images harken back to early studies of flora and fauna, especially those of 17th century Swiss naturalist and woman of art and science Maria Sibylla Merian. Rated as one of the greatest botanists in history, Merian is best known for her illustrations of tropical plants and insects collected on her expeditions to Suriname and the northeastern coast of South America.

The San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, dedicated to the education, presentation and preservation of the visual arts on the Central Coast, is located at 1010 Broad Street, on the west end of Mission Plaza. Hours are 11am – 5pm daily. Closed Tuesdays. Free admission, donations appreciated. For more info visit SLOMA.org.

Check out our list of the best museums in San Luis Obispo here.