Still life studies

Project Statement

For several months in the summer of 2021, I sat in my studio each morning, starting just before sunrise, arranging and rearranging bottles, boxes, and cans from my recycling gathered from the night before. As the sun began to come through my windows, I would allow the arrangements to solidify, making a picture. Some days I would make multiple images, others just one. 

The objects I selected from my recycling bin were painted muted colors before the final photographs were made. At first glance, this erasure of details reduces them to shapes. The observation allowed by viewing the photographic prints reveals subtle color and text from the original objects’ labeling and packaging – a little yellow from a mustard jar or the label from a wine bottle. The subject and process of this work are directly influenced by Giorgio Morandi and what I find to be his romantic practice of making. The use of recycled objects is also influenced by a long-term interest in considering the objects we consume.