Objects on a Table presents a scrolling three minute video still-life of a lush tabletop, filled with flowers, cheese, bread and fruit. The work serves as a meditation on the act of observing.
The work was inspired via an investigation into documentary and ethnographic filmic practice, specifically, the desire for distance and a "clinic-like" observational stance in the practice. Tracing the roots of this impetus backwards, the artist discovered many of the same principals in play in Dutch 16th Century still life painting, a key historical moment in the idea of the artist as a witness-observer of the world.
Additionally, the work serves as a modern update on the still life. The flowers and plants used are artificial, and the subjects, the bread, cheese, fruits are treated in both a romantic and anti-romantic sense via the camera. While certain subjects suggest the beauty of life, others, such as the half eaten chicken, present more cheeky or even sinister approaches to still life. The ambiguity of the film is inspired by the ambiguity in the act of presenting.
The work was inspired via an investigation into documentary and ethnographic filmic practice, specifically, the desire for distance and a "clinic-like" observational stance in the practice. Tracing the roots of this impetus backwards, the artist discovered many of the same principals in play in Dutch 16th Century still life painting, a key historical moment in the idea of the artist as a witness-observer of the world.
Additionally, the work serves as a modern update on the still life. The flowers and plants used are artificial, and the subjects, the bread, cheese, fruits are treated in both a romantic and anti-romantic sense via the camera. While certain subjects suggest the beauty of life, others, such as the half eaten chicken, present more cheeky or even sinister approaches to still life. The ambiguity of the film is inspired by the ambiguity in the act of presenting.