STORY BEHIND THE ART OF JEANNE REINER

20th Annual International 

American Society of Botanical Artists & The Horticultural Society of New York

Nepenthes

Nepenthes

Imagine you're a fly buzzing about in the sultry humidity of a rainforest in Borneo. You see in the distance a pitcher hanging from a tendril off of a sword-shaped leaf. The pitcher has a ruby-red rim that look like shiny lips. Oooh, they're so seductive and they seem to beckon you to "come on in." So you perch on the waxy edge and peer inside for the source of the sweet aroma and suddenly "oh no!" You've lost your footing and are slipping down, down, down the throat toward the potbelly. You land with a splash! But even the frantic desperation with which you flutter, your wings will not let you ascend out of the syrupy ooze. Alas, your time is up and you are slowly about to become another victim of Nepenthes, The Motionless Killer.

I love the Nepenthes for the sheer fact that they seem to be caught in mid-evolution between vegetable and animal. They have a reputation that is so different from most other plants and makes everything about them seem sinister. I assure you I have yet to see my quiet little houseplant do, well, … anything. I keep waiting for the day when I awaken to see it strangling a butterfly, yet it just sits there, weird, unearthly, creepy.

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