A new exhibition by PA.NOVA Gallery , celebrating the cult of Nature Mor-te explores how different artists of the 21st century have reinvigorated the still life and given a new philosophical sense to the term in their works.
The exhibition «NATURE.MORTE» is, first of all, a conversation and reflection of the na-ture, live and dead as well as the story of the modern person being a part of the na-ture and at the same time a destructive role which a human being renders on na-ture during the daily activity. It is a peculiar attempt to reconcile natural beauty and an image of the modern person in sculptures, photos, pictures and video installations.
On the one hand the representation of nature in its magnificence and natural beau-ty on impressionistic canvases of Eva Letizia, ironic sculptures of Gabriel Ortega, photo realistic drawings by Daniele Pitittu, pop art photo illustrations by Lucia Dibi, delicate and refine installations in paper and wood by Kylie Ogrady; on another, - lost souls, abandoned houses and the distorted faces of photos of Yulia Kompaniyets, Diego Morra, Daniele Golia and Pavel Chmelev, the society 2.0, influ-enced by the social and derived behaviours on the canvas Babak Monazzami's sur-realistic photo works which as if are united on the world map from the cigarette fil-ters, David Genna’s installation.
The still life, or nature morte, has been a constant subject throughout the history of art, its significance changing over time. As an independent genre of painting, the still life came into its own in the mid-seventeenth century when the Flemish term stilleven first came to be applied to oil paintings characterised by their tight focus on an assortment of objects sitting on a flat surface.
It brings together historic approach still-life paintings and contemporary art works that seek to use the language of the past for modern concerns. The show seeks to illustrate how artists of the 21st century are reinvigorating the still life, a genre previously synonymous with the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Old Masters.
The show will exhibit works from the traditional topics of the still-life: flora, fauna, the domestic object, food and vanitas. The exhibition 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.