Characterised by meticulous realism, dynamic compositions, powerful forms and evocative lighting, still life is one of the most enduring and significant genres in Western art. Still life captivates us with close-up views of objects no longer living but far from lifeless. Every pictorial element conveys some social or moral content or serves as a reminder of the transient nature of life.
The still life genre provided me with a working methodology to investigate and re-present Enlightenment collections dating from the seventeenth to nineteenth century in Europe and Australia. The exhibitions Tall Tales and True (2011), Empire Line (2009), The Great and the Good (2008), Beau Monde (2005) and The Collector’s Nature (2003); are diverse in their range; from natural history collections housed in the National herbarium of the Netherlands to artefacts sourced from Palladian villas and Neo-Gothic estates held in the property portfolios of Sydney Living museums.
museums order and isolate collection material based on provenance, maker, and materiality. Rather than showcasing items in their traditional museum display I employed the Dutch, Spanish and American still-life traditions to re-interpret these collections, giving the viewer a more intimate reading of the objects by creating compositions that allude to the world that gave rise to them. The images, 9pm Elizabeth Bay House, The Duke of Northumberland’s Tablecloth, and The Butler’s Tray, all create the impression that the settings have just been left momentarily.
More than stunning compositions, the emblematic codes of the still life genre pose recurring philosophical questions about beauty, truth, and wisdom, Miss Eliza Wentworth’s Glassware as well as being a particular set of glassware also references the fragility and precariousness of life. In the still-life tradition, glass, particularly shattered or broken glass, refers to the frailty of life, but the still-life composition also served to demonstrate that by preserving the object permanence can be lent to the most fragile. Table of Industry, based on the book still life tradition, is a reminder that even knowledge is transient, and continually changing.
The still-life qualities of rendering detail lovingly and creating a powerful mise-en-scene through lighting lend themselves brilliantly to photographic interpretation. The sharpness of the lens, and the control over lighting allows the photographer to reveal detail and invest both simple and intricate compositions with a heightened reality.
Underpinning the compositions, whether simple (The First Cut, Walnuts, Salmon) or complex (Fontaine de Vaucluse, Mr. Macleays Fruit and Flora, Rouse and the Cumberland Plain, Saison 93-94), is the search for order and meaning. Every element is there to educate and elucidate, and the image is incomplete unless the viewer participates in this de-coding, inviting an investment in the image by both the maker and the viewer.