Moving Still Lifes

Having been inspired by Dali's piece Nature Morte Vivante (see previous post) and his ironic use of movement within his still life painting, I've chosen to look further into this topic since it fascinates me greatly. I think the idea of turning a still life, a painting that eliminates both movement and time, into a work that depends on movement and time defies the "rules" of a still life work using irony.

For my A2 Artwork, I have to write a dissertation based on a certain theme/movement/artist that interests me, and after coming across Dali's painting, I'm keen to base my dissertation on this ironic concept. Having done quite a bit of artist research into this idea, I came across two contemporary photographers that appealed to me: Ori Gersht and Sam Taylor Wood.

Ori Gersht is an Israeli fine art photographer, currently a professor of photography at the University for the Creative Arts in England. I thought his still life series such as Falling Bird, Time after Time and Blow Up from 2007 all illustrated and related to my theme of movement captured within time.

I felt that his video, Pomegranate, related to my concept and Dali's painting perfectly. Pomegranate is a video based on an old painting from from 1602 by Juan Sanchez Cotan and this is evident through the obvious resemblance between the two pieces. What I like most is how Ori Gersht had taken an old original still life and transformed it into a moving still life, once again, being ironic.

Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber by Juan Sánchez Cotán, 1602

Sam Taylor Wood is an English filmmaker, photographer and visual artist. I actually came across her a while ago after finding out she directed the film Nowhere Boy, having really enjoyed the film previously. I really like her work and how unique and graceful it tends to be, particularly her Suspended and Bram Stoker's Chair series, where she plays about with the idea of humans in suspension, defying the use of gravity.

So whilst researching my concept, I came across her Still Life work from 2001 which I thought whilst very similiar to Ori Gersht's video in terms of the ironic use of time within a still life, her work has a different aspect to it. Sam Taylor Wood reflects on the idea of decay and time, also being a wonderful recreation of Vanitas still life paintings.

So with these two artists in mind, along with Dali, I'm hoping that I'll be able to write up a pretty interesting dissertation on the idea of movement within still life.