Walnut Creek’s Bedford Gallery lately opened its latest exhibit, “Observations of a Nonetheless Life,” which showcases the enduring relevance of still-life photographs in right this moment’s fast-paced, media-saturated world.
That includes 22 artists working throughout a spread of media (from ceramics and images to grease portray) the group present explores how up to date artists reinterpret a style traditionally related to quiet domesticity and the Dutch Golden Age. Curated by Emilee Enders, the exhibit goals to sluggish viewers down and invite them to look at moments of magnificence and which means in extraordinary issues.
“I wished to deliver the dialog into the current and discover how these artists are influenced by modernity,” Enders stated. “We’re continually overwhelmed by the stream of stimuli in our lives, so I wished to create an area the place guests can focus solely on a single tableau created by human fingers.”
Whereas conventional still-life photographs as soon as featured bowls of fruit or vases with flowers, the works in “Observations of a Nonetheless Life” replicate the complexities of latest tradition. Artists remodel mundane objects into symbols of want, identification, humor and critique, prompting viewers to query what they worth and the way they see.
San Francisco-based artist Annie Duncan makes use of larger-than-life ceramic sculptures to discover femininity and the facility of on a regular basis objects. Her items, corresponding to “2 Razors” reimagine home items related to the feminine physique — corresponding to fragrance bottles, razors and different private results — as vessels of self-realization and bodily autonomy. Duncan’s course of entails shaping and firing hand-built clay slabs, then glazing and portray them with a trompe l’oeil impact that blurs the boundaries between portray, sculpture and popular culture.
“I take advantage of widespread objects tied to the feminine physique to discover themes like want and self-realization,” Duncan stated. “Via distortion and floor remedy, I reference conventional still-life, cartoons and the aesthetics of digital client tradition.”
Toronto-based artist Megan Ellen Macdonald additionally reinterprets the still-life by means of a distinctly trendy lens. Working in oil on canvas, she makes use of 3D modeling software program to design her compositions earlier than translating them into bodily work, introducing what she calls “an uncanny hole between the digital and the tangible.”
“My course of mirrors how our notion of magnificence and actuality is continually mediated by means of screens and filters,” Macdonald stated. “That rigidity between the synthetic and the natural turns into a part of the emotional cloth of the work.”
Macdonald’s work, typically laced with humor and irony, have interaction viewers in a dialog about sincerity, style and cultural obsession. Her piece “Deflated” makes use of camp and kitsch as a visible language to critique consumerism whereas maintaining the tone playful.
“Humor can act as an awesome entry level for viewers,” Macdonald stated. “It permits artists to critique or exaggerate with out alienating the viewers. My work leans into camp and the absurd … to not make mild of significant themes, however to point out how the road between sincerity and irony is commonly blurred.”
For curator Enders, that blend of seriousness and levity is a part of what makes the present important to this second.
“Artists are visible historians,” she stated. “By nature, their works replicate the cultural and emotional panorama of our time. In ‘Observations,’ we’re confronted with consumerism, identification politics, environmentalism and race — but in addition humor and sweetness, which we desperately want proper now.”
The exhibit challenges the notion that still-life is quiet or static. As an alternative, it turns into a dynamic mirror of human expertise — how we work together with issues and what these interactions reveal about us. Enders stated that lots of the works embrace “Easter eggs” of which means that reward cautious remark.
“I hope guests begin to discover how intricate, intentional and private these works are,” she stated. “There’s a lot to find, however it’s a must to actually look.”
For Macdonald, that act of trying is on the coronary heart of still-life and up to date life.
“I hope viewers go away questioning their very own definitions of magnificence and style,” she stated. “These works ask how we glance, what we worth and the way which means evolves by means of the act of seeing.”
Enders additionally emphasised accessibility as a core worth of the gallery.
“Folks ought to see the present to increase their understanding of still-life and help a wholesome inventive neighborhood within the Bay (Space),” she stated. “Plus, our admission mannequin is ‘Pay What You Can.’ ”
Bedford will even host a “Cocktails + Dialog” occasion from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Nov. 6, that includes a curator-led tour and refreshments from Walnut Creek Italian restaurant Montesacro. With its mixture of conventional strategies and up to date perception, “Observations of a Nonetheless Life” invitations guests to decelerate, look nearer and discover resonance within the on a regular basis.
Taking part artists additionally embrace Sally Baker, Sabrina Bockler, Nicholas Bono Kennedy, Leeza Doreian, Angela Fang Zirbes, Mary Finlayson, Casey Grey, Jane Hambleton, John Herschend, Natalia Juncadella, Robert Minervini, Stephen Morrison, Mischelle Moy, Donna Moylan, Vik Muniz, Tucker Nichols, Richard Shaw, Paul Wackers, Invoice Ward and Griff Williams.
“Observations of a Nonetheless Life” will probably be on show by means of Dec. 14. For exhibit tickets or data on-line, go to bedfordgallery.org/exhibitions/current-season/observations-of-a-still-life.
Attain Charleen Earley, a contract author and journalism professor at Diablo Valley school, at charleenbearley@gmail.com or 925-383-3072.
