This week on the show my guest is painter Natalie Westbrook. Her dense canvases of thickly textured paint depict chaotic scenes of tropical flora and fauna, in which life is constantly mutating, reproducing and consuming itself.

Natalie has a show of paintings called Paranoia Pepperment up now at Interstate Projects here in Bushwick, and I sat down with her in the gallery to talk about her work, her interest in tropical plants, Durer’s Rhino, the Kentucky Derby and much more.

In our interview, Natalie tells the story of Durer’s Rhinoceros (above) and how the intersection of science and fantasy influence her work.

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