max l adams

This series is drawn from the vanitas still life tradition, especially by way of the Spanish bodegón. The bodegón tradition is recast through a documentary approach, employing the photographic formatting of Eadweard Muybridge.

Both models are concerned with perception, relying upon the same visual vernacular to communicate their findings. In each the focus is centered, staged, highlighted, and displayed against a bold backdrop. They are at once subjective and objective in their reporting, albeit partisan: painting is largely viewed as a subjective practice, whereas photography is conflated with objective truth.

Both methods employ a black backdrop. This staging links the two disparate traditions, yet it is employed for different purposes. In both, the backdrop frames the subject/object in high contrast. The bodegón backdrop is a void, often suggesting a depth of field. Meanwhile, Muybridge’s documentary photographs are gridded—the foreground measured against the flat, calculated armature set behind it. This black is dramatic, moody, emotional. This black is likewise functional, sterile, empirical. The backdrop is both theater and laboratory.

Sequential Still Lifes plays upon these two traditions. Ceramic props are drawn against a gridded backdrop. The vessels are delineated by the play and measured motion of light and shadow across their forms.

sequence 9.

Ceramics:
Candle Holder - Cade Hollomon-Cook
Twin Vases - East Fork Pottery
Vase - John Vigeland

Lighting:
One Candle Framed
One Bulb Unframed, Right

sequence 10.

Ceramics:
Candle Holders - Cade Hollomon-Cook
Vase - Mark Hewitt
Vase - Alex Matisse
Vase - John Vigeland

Lighting:
Three Candles Framed