I was browsing in a second hand book shop and picked up a slightly worn dusty art book with images of still life paintings of dusty bottles and pitchers by an Italian painter called Giorgio Morandi. I was intrigued how simple arrangements of bottles, pitchers and tins could be made into such compelling little works of art. I was 35 years old at the time and now 35 years later I still feel inspired by Morandi. Through the year 2021 I also made some paintings using the same sort of vessels that Morandi would have used, adding also seasonal fruit to the compositions, I liked the extra colour. These paintings were popular and I made some sales. This year, 2024 I have returned again to the still life genre, this time I am using my camera, some outside Wairarapa sunshine and an Epson pigment printer to make in a more direct way a modern take on the still life genre, reinterpreting and hopefully invigorating my previous paintings.
I wrote the following on recent Instagram post and I think it sums it up;
“What can I say … I see it mostly as abstract borderline figurative, or visa versa, enjoying the process.”
