• Mark Gertler (1891-1939), The Doll, 1914, oil on canvas. Image courtesy of The Ingram Collection

Still life in focus at Hastings Contemporary exhibition

HOT’s Judy Parkinson visited the new show at Hastings Contemporary and found herself cogitating on the meaning of the phrase still life, a genre dating back to ancient Egyptian and Roman times.

What is a still life? Most of us know it as a work of art depicting inanimate objects. But nothing is what it seems. Take the phrase apart and it has a darker meaning. Still as in not moving, and inanimate as in not alive … or dead. A still life is traditionally a composition of commonplace natural objects like food, fruit, dead animals, rocks and shells, along with manufactured objects like chairs, books, vases, jewellery and coins and so on. The still life artist asks the viewer to consider a composition of one or more objects, and then delve deeper through the layers of allegories represented by the lifeless things before them.

Abigail Norris, The Faellen Aeppel, 2023, latex, wadding, tights, copper wire, vintage silk gloves. Image courtesy of The Ingram Collection © Abigail Norris.

Still life works have long been associated with death; paintings of food adorned the interiors of Egyptian tombs to nourish the deceased. Since Roman times skulls have appeared in paintings as symbols of mortality and earthly remains, often with the accompanying phrase omnia mors aequat (death makes all equal).

These images suggest the fleeting nature of life, the futility of pleasure and the inevitably of death, and are used to this day, not least in the new exhibition at Hastings Contemporary which seizes ambiguity through metaphor, memento and memorial.

The exhibition takes its title from Virginia Woolf’s description of lover, painter and critic Roger Fry’s London bedsit. English modernist writer Woolf graced familiar, everyday things with extraordinary poetry, and she understood that art, in its broadest sense, need not necessarily address the dramatic and spectacular but the immediate, domestic and superficially banal ideas that live at the heart of the still life genre, and this show.

Immortal Apples, Eternal Eggs is a meeting of two of the UK’s most significant collections – The Ingram Collection and the David and Indrė Roberts Collection – and includes work from world renowned artists including Phyllida Barlow, Louise Bourgeois, Sir Anthony Caro, Patrick Caulfield, Michael Craig-Martin, Dame Elisabeth Frink, Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson, Sarah Lucas and Ai Weiwei. More than 50 artworks are on display, created by more than 50 artists over the past 100 years.

The exhibition juxtaposes contemporary sculpture, video and installation alongside traditional still life painted works. It succeeds in challenging assumptions about this familiar genre, offering new perspectives and inviting viewers to think about their own definition of still life and life itself.

Cathie Pilkington, Singerie, 2004, mixed media. © Cathie Pilkington. Courtesy The David and Indrė Roberts Collection.

Many of us are unwitting still life artists as we snap our breakfast avocado on toast or special occasion lobster bisque for showing off on social media. This show contains two significant mealtime tableaux, as compelling as they are unsettling, both depicting the passage of time in different ways.

The first is Cathie Pilkington’s Singerie – a sculptural depiction of the aftermath of children’s birthday party that recalls the Last Supper. The guests are models of monkeys on a sugar high, some with comic monkey masks askew, deflated balloons, tired bunting and a stained crumb-laden table cloth. Disturbing and engaging in equal measure.

Rebecca Nassauer, Fish Supper, 2006, tablecloth, piranhas, silver cutlery, serviettes, framed letter. © Rebecca Nassauer.  Courtesy The David and Indrė Roberts Collection.

The other is Fish Supper by Rebecca Nassauer, which is just as disconcerting, with the table laid in formal grandparent style with heirloom cutlery and seasoned with a sense of humour laced with danger as dead piranha fish lie where the dessert spoons should be.
To discuss just two installations is not enough. Each exhibit is a multi-layered conundrum on life and what lies beyond. Essential viewing, worth a couple of visits.

Hastings Contemporary director Liz Gilmore said: “From magic and mystery to life and death, and the beauty of the domestic and ordinary, Immortal Apples, Eternal Eggs takes visitors on a surprising and thought-provoking journey through the genre of Still Life.

Sarah Lucas, Grace, 2006, tights, kapok, wooden chair. Courtesy the Roberts Institute of Art, the David and Indrė Roberts Collection and Sadie Coles HQ, London. © Sarah Lucas. Courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London.

“We are delighted that this collaboration with two prominent British art collections enables us to bring to Hastings world-class historic and contemporary art, in a celebration of some of the most significant artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Whether it be shock, surprise, humour, melancholy or delight, there is something for everyone in this exhibition!”

Immortal Apples, Eternal Eggs
21 September 2024–16 March 2025
Hastings Contemporary, Rock-a-Nore   Road, Hastings TN34 3DW
Wednesday to Sunday and Bank Holidays
11am-5pm (last entry 4.40pm)

www.hastingscontemporary.org  @hastings.contemporary
www.ingramcollection.com @ingramcollectionuk
www.therobertsinstituteofart.com @therobertsinstituteofart

Also in: Visual Arts