Nature Morte: Contemporary artists reinvigorate the Still-Life tradition

About this book

Showcases contemporary artists working in a range of media who are finding new inspiration in the still life tradition This richly rewarding book reveals how leading artists of the twenty-first century are reinvigorating the still life a genre previously synonymous with the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Old Masters. The audacious still lifes celebrated here challenge that historical supremacy and redefine what it means to be a work of nature morte or dead nature. Whether through painting drawing sculpture video or other forms contemporary artists have drawn on the tradition to create works of conceptual vivacity beauty and emotional poignancy. Michel Petry has structured the book according to the classic categories of the still-life traditionFlora Food House and Home Fauna and Death. Each chapter explores how the timeless symbolic resonance of the memento moria reminder of death change and the passing of timehas been rediscovered for a new millennium. Among the artists represented are John Currin Saara Ekstrm Elmgreen & Dragset Renata Hegyi Damien Hirst David Hockney Gary Hume Jeff Koons McDermott & McGough Beatriz Milhazes Gabriel Orozco Marc Quinn Sam Taylor-Wood and Cy Twombly. 400 color illustrations