Botanical Humanity

By Christine Giraud

“In the end, they're not really plants. They’re nature or the representation of nature, with all its complexity and nerves.” Maite Backman

Swedish-Colombian artist Maite Backman, 47, has for many years used ubiquitous plants and flowers from her surroundings to convey the increasing disconnect between humans and the environment. Plants are the way she explores the influence of humanity on nature and, in this way, humanity itself. She believes plants are of equal importance to humans and worthy of attention.

Her work departs from traditional representations of nature like landscapes or still-lifes. Her paintings demonstrate human intervention as she tames these plants by surrounding them with fabrics and plastics and observes them through a camera lens.

Says Backman, “A powerful light – sunlight, which shines the same for all of us – traverses leaves and stems, revealing textures and nuances.”

One of her main objectives is to offer these forgotten plants the dignity they deserve without denying human interference. In each image, light breaks through the leaves, the flowers, and the stems, revealing hyper-realistic textures and character in the veins, leaves, and fruits. They become even more beautiful and dynamic.

Prickly Pear, Oil on Wood Panel, 23 inch x 35 inch

Artist Technique

Her brushstrokes are inspired by traditional painters, but as a multimedia artist, Backman also uses photography in her process as a way to enter the painting.

She first takes the plants away from their natural context and dresses them with long fabrics, plastics, or other materials. Then she takes photos of the plants. “I like to make photogenic settings for the plants. I make a stage and treat them as if they are humans or kings, important people, with a lot of respect.”

Interestingly, to master painting light, she practices with film stills from scenes that she finds beautifully lit. However, she mostly feels detached when painting humans and only does this to improve.

Influence of Master Painters

While Backman grew up in Madrid, she is a Swedish citizen. In her twenties, she went to Sweden to study anthropology because she was attracted to its focus on the history of human beings. When she got compliments on her drawing, she decided this lifelong hobby and passion was a special skill she should take seriously. She took the leap and studied art in Sweden and then got her MFA in Spain at Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

Backman has always been heavily influenced by masters like Tiziano, Rembrandt, and especially Velasquez. As a frequent visitor to the Museo Nacional del Prado, she would sit and gaze at the classical paintings for hours, completely mesmerized.

She appreciates Velasquez’s ability to make every brushstroke seem simple and easy. She works to master technique so well that when she has an idea she can execute it quickly while it is fresh in her mind. “Whatever I do I want to be able to express it and not think too hard about it.”

Self-portrait, part of triptych, work in progress, 2024, 92 x 73 cm

Plant Portraits Get Biographical

Over time, her portraits of plants have become more biographical. For example, she considers a triptych of a common Nandina plant that she is working on a self-portrait. In one of the paintings, pliers are squeezing the plant, expressing the emotional toll of a relationship that ended and life stresses. She points to the pliers. “This would be me in a relationship in which I felt very fragile and almost dry and tortured. These pliers are very strong and hurting, breaking a delicate thing.” The painting becomes part of her healing process.

The silver lining of pain and healing is that it helps us grow and develop even more emotional depth. The same is true for Backman. She brings her soul to the surface in her paintings. “If you can feel pain, it means that you've mastered whatever you're doing.”

Sporting Club Russafa

After a four-year hiatus, Backman got back into painting in 2015. She started a daytime office job which meant adopting an evening schedule. She used to give herself a flexible 8 hours a day to paint because working with oil requires checking the exact point of wetness or dryness before applying new layers. With restricted hours, her process is more planned and intentional.

The support of Sporting Club Russafa has made the transition to a new routine easier. A member since 2023, she considers it a special place, mostly due to its history as a gritty boxing gym that transformed into a thriving art gallery and studio. She admires the resiliency and ingenuity.

Backman’s botanical portraits blend well with the other exquisite art at Sporting Club which also tangles with humanity and the natural. Her paintings reflect on fragility and detachment and uniquely capture the duality of the natural and artificial. “I want to show the soul. That's what I try for. My plants are where I really identify myself.”

Biography of Maite Backman

Maite Backman got her MFA in Fine Arts at Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain. In Stockholm she got her Konstskolan Basis, Fine Art Studies and Folkuniversitet in Ceramics.

She has created works in many media including design, illustration, and photography, and has held numerous solo and collective exhibitions in Spain. She produced part of her collection at a residency in the state of Maryland, USA from 2017-2018.

Contact Maite Backman:

Website: https://www.zatista.com/artist/maite-backman1

Email: maitebackman@gmail.com

Instagram: @maitebackman

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maitebackman