What made Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, and Vera Wang collectors is a painting of a crumpled shopping paper bag. Cj Hendry uses ink to create near-photographic hyperrealistic textures, with a single piece once priced as high as $50,000. Yet this time, the artist is bringing something entirely different to Taipei—an entire room full of fuzzy flowers.
"Flower Shop" is Cj Hendry's plush flower installation series, which first debuted in New York in 2024 as "Flower Market." Each flower's frame is built from metal and wire, then wrapped in soft plush material to recreate the intricate details of roses, lilies, peonies, and other varieties—from a distance, they look like real flowers, but up close, they're touchable plush toys. She told ELLE US that color was the trickiest part to get right—"If it's too saturated, it looks fake. You have to find the balance—some flowers need to be fun and friendly, others need a dusty tone"—and a single flower often went through four or five versions before being finalized. She also mentioned that flowers with rich colors and complex details were consistently the most time-consuming part of the production process.
On August 28, "Flower Shop" makes its Taiwan debut on the G floor of Taipei Breeze Center. The installation will feature 100 plush flower varieties, including 7 pieces specifically created based on flowers native to Taiwan. As Cj Hendry puts it: "I hope that from now on, whenever people see a flower—whether it's plush or real—they'll be reminded of this sense of beauty and joy."
The full exhibition dates, list of works, and pricing will be announced on opening day, August 28.
