Still Life

Artists: David Gilbert, Chris Sollars, Carson Fisk-Vittori, Mark Benson, Robin Cameron and Claire Nereim

September 2 - October 14, 2011

When thinking about a Still Life, my first association is linked with art classes in Elementary School.  I remember the art teacher arranging plastic fruit with a coffee mug and some fake flowers.  We would either use charcoal or watercolors to attempt to recreate what we saw in front of us.  The beauty of it was its stillness, perfect for the beginner artist.  As my art education evolved, the Still Life began to mean something more.   I learned about the historical context throughout the centuries in relation to the "Still Life".  It  started with religious symbolism leading eventually into arrangements lending to more freedom  of subject matter like food and plant life.  In my opinion some of the most stunning Still Lives, both in composition and technique were during the 16th and 17th centuries.  The highlights were from the Flemish and Spanish painters especially Juan Sánchez Cotán who was able to translate a simple collection of fruit and vegetables into a metaphor for something larger than life, as if they were the essence of life itself. As the 19th century passed so did the invention of photography changing the way the Still Life was perceived. 

Since then the Still Life has been translated throughout various mediums as well as obtaining new meanings.  I am interested in what does a Still Life mean to us today in 2011?  What does it look like?  Is a Still Life just a documentation of one moment?  Is it a discarded once loved thing lying in the street?  Does it describe something staged?  Is it a collection of arbitrary objects? Or is just a mistake in the studio? This exhibition will highlight new forms of the Still Life especially as it exists within the ephemeral online platform. 

David Gilbert's work highlights the studio still life.  His large scale installations document the impermanence of the studio.  With photography he is able to isolate the subtle and poignant moments within this evolving space.  They act both as passages of time as well as letting Gilbert frame the work in a way that might not be noticeable in real time.  The photograph enables a persona to emerge from each installation letting him differentiate what a an art piece is within his practice.

Photography also plays a crucial role in the work of  Robin Cameron.  Her work nods at the past of traditional arrangements for a still life.  There seems to be a calculation within how and what is set up though the objects give insight into the hand of the artist showing detritus of art making.  Cameron's cues often come from the vernacular letting the viewer relate on some level though they all appear to be markers taking stage of her own personal investigations.  Each photograph stands on its own, though altogether they could be catalogued as a a kind of theatrical set of slides, touching on both humor and a reflective stillness that permeates through the viewer.

Mark Benson's work often speaks to the theatrical though positioned within the everyday.   He sets up situations  to emphasize the humor in life by creating still lives that are comprised of common place objects juxtaposed to one another that are not normally associated.  In doing so, Benson's work lifts society's built in connotations for a moment letting one soak up the absurdity and maybe look at dishes, brooms, and laundry in a new way.

Similarly, Chris Sollars work also emphasizes on the everyday, but in his work it is the discard and remnants of daily life.  Sollars creates canny sculptural moments in the streets allowing agency to the these forgotten artifacts.  He has the ability to take unnoticed trash and give it a persona especially through his documentation.  Without being forthright, Sollars' humorous interventions speak to environmental concerns of today especially in his video piece of the Piles of Trash.  In one moment they are just trash bags we are accustomed to seeing and in the next frame they walk across the street bringing attention to them in a new way both alarming and comical.

With Carson Fisk-Vittori's work, she captures humor and familiarity that echo moments of advertising in a discreet manner especially shown in Types of Gardens.   Her situations are set up in a way that almost feels like product placement with specific arrangements even though they are comprised of various disparate materials that are seemingly unrelated.  The randomness brings cohesive as if each of their existence is contingent on one another to create a larger gesture.

Claire Nereim's work lends itself to a variety of mediums and often translate as three dimensional metaphors  for words and together they form a sentence in a language not yet decoded.  At first glance, one might think they were in someone's kitchen, a designer showroom or maybe it is a visual riddle or question.  Her placement always appears to be strategic with intention creating a space for a viewer to spend time with her objects.  There is a quiet mystique around Nereim's work that possess a minimal yet powerful presence.

Curated by Kelly Lynn Jones