September 15, 2009

My (fake) still lifes

The most boring and uninteresting paintings are still lifes. No doubt about it. The first one I saw in my life hanged, and still hangs, at my grandparents' place, in the dinning room. I couldn't understand it, so meaningless and without life. Whenever I bump into one in a museum or a book, I rather look away. At least I was doing that most of the times, till the moment when I saw some years ago Van Gogh's "Still life with absinthe" (1887). This was the first still life I had seen with movement and life: people walking in the street. That seemed to me a fake still life, it looks more like a picture of a bar: somebody was drinking, a girl or a friend or an acquaintance entered, and the guy stood up to have a small talk. Or maybe there was a fight and a duel, and the absinthe was left behind. Or perhaps that is the fourth bottle and he went to the toilette, or is lying on the floor. Who knows. The crucial fact for me is the life.


So I started doing my own "fake still lifes" à la Van Gogh, where people interact with still-life-people, say an advertisement, a picture, a painting, a grafitti, a doll... These are some of my Israel "fake still lifes" from last week. The first one was taken in Jerusalem's market, and the rest in the non-turistic slums of Tel Aviv.




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