Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/996854
48 K yle Branch's work is all about ambiguity: A giant monstera leaf is painted magenta with a slash of neon yellow, giving it a rubbery sheen. The skeleton of a cholla cactus, sprayed lavender, is puzzling with its odd perforations. And a painted yellow umbrella fern looks, frankly, plastic. "I do like that people think my flowers are fake," says Branch, whose part-time floral design business, Peaches, recently burst onto the scene with fun-loving '70s- and '80s-inspired creations. By day, he's employed at Tenoversix — styling vignettes, selling, and shooting product for the fashion retailer's website. He does flowers for the store, along with creations for events hosted at The Joule, including the recent Eye Ball. Flowers are an evolution from Branch's previous life as a fine-arts painter. He trained at South Carolina's College of Charleston and has a slew of gallery shows under his belt. "I've always been drawn to the idea of illusion, even in painting," he says. "I spent most of my career painting sexual identities, trans-identities, with the use of Pop colors. It's the idea of projecting something people aren't familiar with, or maybe don't want to discuss, in a pleasing palette." The idea of supercharging recognizable flora — monstera leaves, roses, gerbera daisies, allium — in unnatural palettes and combinations is just an evolution of what he has been doing all along. "I've always painted. It's a matter of 'Here's my materials; how do I use them in a nontraditional way that gets people's attention?'" His hyper-florescent creations can start with a spray- painted leaf, which he takes to the flower market to help him match, blend, or contrast. And while floral paint is a thing, he prefers spray paint from the hardware store. "Nothing is as saturated as Rustoleum," he says. As he does with his paintings, he sketches designs first, then plays with orientation and line. Often, the result is akin to ikebana. "I like an asymmetric vibe, and I keep things minimal," says Branch, who creates out of his Greenville Avenue-area duplex. His favorite flower? The Coral Charm peony, a master illusionist among the genus paeonia. "On day one, it's hot florescent pink," he says. "By day four, it's butter." KYLE BRANCH Kyle Branch, Peaches Painted monstera leaves in vases, with Appa the cat