Details beneath the surface
The backdrop for this year’s Floriade Gin blooms from the work of Australian artist Christophe Domergue. With his signature “Peeling” technique, Domergue lifts layers of colour, texture and time from abandoned urban spaces, revealing the quiet poetry hidden in their surfaces. Each work is part discovery, part collaboration with place.
Our chosen piece, Galactic Forge from the series Aurora Industrialis (2023), is born of force and fascination. What began as an obsession with discarded energy drink cans evolved into an artform of abrasion, repetition and insistence; grinding grid scars into concrete before resin and fibreglass seep into the wounds. Like the most daring of botanical explorers, Domergue unearths and preserves the rich detail beneath the surface, creating fractured, cosmic landscapes that are both industrial and celestial.
Collector's and Explorer's Floriade Gin
