There comes a moment, if you stand long enough before one of Heath Wae’s paintings, when the image stops feeling like an image. An orchid, magnified until its edges dissolve into mist, no longer presents itself as something to observe. Instead, it seems to expand beyond the frame. Looking gives way to immersion.

That experience sits at the heart of Mineral Meridian, the Australian artist’s first solo exhibition in New York, recently on view at CARVALHO in Brooklyn. The exhibition brings together 15 paintings, many rendered with oil and hand-foraged mineral pigments on linen. Soft pinks, muted golds, earthy ochres, and hazy lavenders wash across the canvases, creating flowers that appear caught in a constant state of becoming. Rather than depicting blooms at a fixed moment, Wae captures them in the act of unfolding.

Part of what makes Wae’s work so compelling lies in his process. Based in Bundjalung Country in New South Wales, Australia, the artist gathers many of his own materials from the landscape. He grinds stone and minerals into pigment and incorporates ingredients such as seaweed emulsions, myrrh resin, frankincense tinctures, and acacia gum. These materials carry histories that extend far beyond the studio. Wae describes them as “time-bearing” pigments, emphasizing their connection to geological processes that span thousands, and sometimes millions, of years. Rather than hiding those origins, he allows them to remain present within each painting.

The approach connects his practice to some of the earliest traditions of image-making while feeling distinctly contemporary. Instead of treating pigment as a tool for creating illusion, Wae foregrounds the material itself. Every subtle shift in color and texture reflects not only the flower being depicted, but also the ancient substances that make the image possible.

Although orchids anchor the exhibition, Wae moves far beyond botanical illustration. His flowers do not function as scientific specimens or decorative motifs. Instead, they become symbols of transformation and interconnectedness.

The exhibition draws inspiration from A Thousand Plateaus by philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, who use the orchid as an example of becoming. In nature, certain orchids mimic female wasps to attract pollinators, creating a relationship in which plant and insect shape one another. Neither exists entirely on its own. Wae explores that same sense of entanglement through paint. His intentionally blurred compositions soften details and encourage viewers to focus on sensation rather than description. Petals seem to hover at the edge of visibility, inviting a more intuitive encounter with the work.

Wae’s paintings emphasize that flowers do not exist in isolation. They depend on networks of soil, water, light, minerals, insects, and countless other living systems. By incorporating pigments gathered directly from the earth, Wae reinforces those connections on both a conceptual and material level.

The orchid remains a potent symbol throughout the exhibition. Long associated with fertility, desire, and abundance, it becomes something larger in Wae’s hands: a reflection of what Sigmund Freud described as eros, the life force that drives growth, connection, and creation.

Yet these paintings resist spectacle. Rather than demanding interpretation, they invite presence. Wae often describes his practice as one of attunement, and the exhibition reflects that philosophy. Through color, material, and scale, Mineral Meridian encourages viewers to slow down, sharpen their perception, and reconnect with the living world that surrounds them.

Mineral Meridian marks Wae’s New York debut, but the exhibition reflects years of sustained exploration. His work has appeared in exhibitions across Australia, the United Kingdom, Asia, and the United States, and belongs to major private collections around the world.

Heath Wae grounds his practice in the material world, creating pigments from foraged minerals, resins, and plant-based substances that carry traces of deep geological time.

Through recurring orchid forms, the Australian artist investigates themes of becoming, drawing on ideas from ecology, philosophy, and cultural traditions encountered throughout his travels.

His paintings blur the boundaries between organism and environment, encouraging viewers to experience nature not as a backdrop, but as a dynamic network of relationships in which humans also participate.

Heath Wae: Website | Instagram

My Modern Met granted permission to feature images by CARVALHO.

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