In an attempt to create a narrative still life using acrylic paint, I decided on the delivery of tragic news. I wanted to leave my narrative a little open-ended, but I did have a version of the story in mind as I was creating the concept. In my version of the story, an unseen person receives a call with unfortunate news. Someone close to them, a relative, a friend, or a lover, has died in an accident. The recipient of the news is distraught with grief, dropping the phone before collapsing in despair. As we see the scene now, the phone is left off the hook, and the phone call has long since ended. Behind the phone, on the table, stands a vase of withering flowers and a single candle with a faint, fiery glow.
I used these specific objects to help give the viewer insight into the story I wanted to tell. By using a rotary telephone, I was able to convey that the phone call ended abruptly, as the phone was not put back into place. In art, dying flowers and single, lit candles tend to represent recent (or near future) death, or the concept of it. Overall, I wanted to display beautiful objects, but display them in a way the leaves the viewer with an unsettling feeling of unfinished business, impermanence, and despair.
I used these specific objects to help give the viewer insight into the story I wanted to tell. By using a rotary telephone, I was able to convey that the phone call ended abruptly, as the phone was not put back into place. In art, dying flowers and single, lit candles tend to represent recent (or near future) death, or the concept of it. Overall, I wanted to display beautiful objects, but display them in a way the leaves the viewer with an unsettling feeling of unfinished business, impermanence, and despair.
