Looking at Andy Warhol’s work over the years, one must realize his play with both still and living subjects for his art, and his vehement contribution to nature morte and still life. The former portrays the essentiality of a given moment, since it takes organic objects (such as fruits), that would otherwise decay, and immortalizes them by capturing a specific moment that would make them last for eternity. The latter, is the portrayal of still objects (such as cans), and changing their meaning through their portrayal as artistic matter. Despite having a particular series considered as nature morte- “Space Fruit ”, a significant amount of Warhol’s body of artwork still portray objects appropriated from consumer culture, presenting the artist’s perspective of the culture and the times.
It is said that in 1977 Warhol met painter Rupert Jasen Smith, and together they worked to create the aforementioned series of still life, which Warhol called the “Space Fruit” series. These prints show Warhol’s experimentation with the centuries-old genre that began in The Netherlands. Warhol’s main mission was to use shadows as compositional elements, specifically choreographed by the painters to focus on shape, space, and chiaroscuro. Warhol approached his still life paintings by replacing one or more fruits in front of a white background, and lit the room in such a way that the shadows were cast onto white paper, creating a distinct shadow that was sometimes even more overwhelming and distinct than the fruit itself. He also used collage and his exceptional technique of drawing to create the imagery for the additional elements that were reflected by the screens he used. This still-life artwork is an example of a “multicolor silkscreen” print since each color represents a different silkscreen layer; this technique process allowed Warhol to work with endless color combinations within each print and each still life composition.
At Dan Alexander CGI department, While we worked on our Caesarstone project and directed photographic scenes, we strived to understand the way that light and still items communicate, researching the unique dance between the implication of light and its effect on white surfaces, shadows, and depth, aiming to capture (Just like the great artists) that ephemeral moment and engrave it into our lasting images.
