Still Life
2010, 1 channel video installation
The English title Still Life is a wordplay with a number of meanings, depending on its translation: dead nature, nature morte or still alive. This wordplay poses questions on the essence of nature, art and culture, even if we do not have clear answers to all of them.
The term ‘still life’ comes from the Dutch stilleven. This is an artificial language creation, originating in artist’s studio. The adjective ‘still’ relates to the state of the depicted objects, meaning that they are motionless, lying still. The noun ‘life’ does not mean that they are alive, but rather that these painted objects have been live in front of the artist. The video adheres to the rules of still life, as well as to those of a peculiar Baroque form, vanitas. This symbolises the Jewish and European idea of transience of all that is this-worldly, earthly, temporarily. It is a direct reference to the Old Testament’s Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas.
Pistolet Gallery, exhibition view:
