Press Release
Nature Morte
Contemporary Artists Reinvigorate the Still Life
Michael Petry
Publication date: 14 October 2013
Price: £35.00 hardback
Thought-provoking and richly visual, Nature Morte brings together,
for the first time, the poignant, provocative re-imaginings of the traditional
still life by over 180 international contemporary artists. This visually
stunning and timely book reveals how leading artists of the 21st century
are reinvigorating the still life, a genre previously synonymous with the
sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Old Masters.
Michael Petry’s careful selection celebrates works by emerging and
established artists alike, from all over the globe, including John Currin,
Elmgreen & Dragset, Robert Gober, Renata Hegyi, Damien Hirst, David
Hockney, Gary Hume, Sarah Lucas, Beatriz Milhazes, Gabriel Orozco,
Elizabeth Peyton, Marc Quinn, Gerhard Richter, Sam Taylor-Wood and
Ai Wei Wei. Short and compelling introductions begin each chapter and
are followed by dramatic, visually led spreads that pair each work with a
perceptive reading of its significance to the still-life tradition.
Petry’s engaging, provocative text reveals how contemporary practitioners
are revisiting the major motifs of the still life and translating them for the
modern world. Petry explores the timeless themes of life, death and the
irrevocable passing of time in these new works for our modern world;
artworks that invite us to pause and reconsider what it means to be human.
Nature Morte is designed by Barnbrook, a leading London studio at the
cutting edge of graphic design. The cover is lenticular.
Contents:
)NTRODUCTION s #HAPTER &LORA s #HAPTER &OOD s #HAPTER (OUSE (OME s #HAPTER &AUNA s #HAPTER $EATH
Author
Michael Petry is an artist, curator, Doctor of Arts and Director of Museum
of Contemporary Art (MOCA), London. He is the author of Installation Art,
Installation in the New Millennium and The Art of Not Making, all published by
Thames & Hudson.
Extent
288pp + 8pp gatefold
Size
27.5 x 23.0cm
Illustrations
400 colour illustrations
Binding
Hardback
ISBN 978 0 500 239063
Press Contact
Kate Burvill PR
E kateburvill@gmail.com
T +44 (0)20 7226 7824
M +44 (0)7947 754 717
W www.thamesandhudson.com
All information is provisional and subject to change
above
Elmgreen & Dragset
Ganymede (Jockstrap), 2009
laserchrome colour print
mounted on aluminium with
Plexiglas
198
nature morte · fauna
Elmgreen & Dragset adapted pre-existing classical marble sculptures
to create such photographs as Ganymede (Jockstrap). This work
features Zeus, in the form an eagle, drinking from a libation offered by
the youthful Ganymede, who wears a contemporary athletic supporter
added by the artists. In ancient Greek creation myth, Zeus takes
Ganymede to be his cup-bearer, and male lover, on Mount Olympus.
Upon the mortal’s death, he transforms him into a constellation so
that he can live forever. In the Classical Greek world, older men were
expected to take young male lovers. Elmgreen & Dragset are committed
to queering the historical view of human nature by examining the
fictions that underpin social norms and expectations.
Jan Kjetil Bjørheim used a large collection of taxidermy
animals stuffed by a neighbour to create his series of
still-life photographs that return these creatures to the wild.
For Still Life, Nocturn– Owl in Pine, Bjørheim placed an owl
in a real tree against the Norwegian night sky. The resulting
photograph is almost as surreal and constructed as if it were
painted. Other works from his Still Life series verge on the
tragi-comic: a Bambi-esque Deer (2006) returns to the forest
and Goats (2006) scavenge in a scrap yard.
Alana Lake used a pre-existing image of an owl to create
her clever photograph, The Closer you are the Further you
Become, ii (creepy). At a zoo with large photographs of birds
mounted outside their enclosures, she had fellow artist Kraig
Wilson extend his hand beneath the illustrated owl so as to
make it appear that the bird was perched on his finger. Her
photograph (of a photograph) distances the viewer from the
artificiality of the zoo (these animals would not naturally be
found there) yet places them within its frame. In Christian
iconography, the owl has occupied a contradictory position
as both a symbol for the devil, due to its nocturnal nature,
and a symbol for Christ. In the twenty-first century, the owl is
associated primarily with wisdom or knowledge.
left
Alana Lake · The Closer
you are the Further you
become, ii (creepy), 2010
archival digital print
above
Jan Kjetil Bjørheim
Still Life, Nocturn– Owl in
Pine, 2007 · C-print
nature morte · fauna
199
Order Form
Nature Morte: Contemporary artists reinvigorate the Still-Life Tradition
by Michael Petry is published by Thames & Hudson (RRP £35.00)
To order your copy at the special price of £26.25 including UK mainland delivery
(overseas p&p costs available on request), please call our distributor, Littlehampton
Book Services, on 01903 282503 and quote reference TH221.
Alternatively, send your completed order form and payment to:
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