| Description |
This important, timely book reveals in over 400 illustrations how leading artists of the 21st century have reinvigorated a genre previously synonymous with 16th- and 17th-century Old Masters. These audacious new still lifes will redefine what it means to be a work of nature morte, or ‘dead nature’.
Whether in painting, photography, sculpture or video, contemporary artists have drawn on a tradition ripe with metaphorical and moral significance to create works of conceptual vivacity and striking beauty.
Michael Petry has structured the book according to the classic categories of the still-life tradition – Flora, Food, House and Home, Fauna and Death. Each chapter explores how the timeless symbol of the memento mori – a reminder of death, change and the passing of time – has been rediscovered for a new millennium.
Includes works by:
John Currin
Saara Ekström
Elmgreen & Dragset
Renata Hegyi
Damien Hirst
David Hockney
Gary Hume
McDermott & McGough
Beatriz Milhazes
Gabriel Orozco
Marc Quinn
Sophie Calle
Cy Twombly
Ai Weiwei
…and many more
Michael Petry is an artist, curator and Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), London. His previous books include The Art of Not Making, published by Thames & Hudson. |