STILL LIFE AT ARTYARD: Works by 40 artists are featured in “In the Company of Still Life,” on view through May 31 at ArtYard in Frenchtown. (Installation image by Paul Warchol)
“In the Company of Still Life,” on view through May 31 at ArtYard in Frenchtown, explores the complex and enduring relationship between humans and objects through still-life paintings, prints, drawings, collage, sculpture, ceramics, photography, and found objects. A Kings Oaks project curated by co-directors Alex Cohen and Clara Weishahn, the exhibition features work from the 1800s to the present day by 40 artists displayed in a series of distinct rooms inspired by homes, studios, and architectural spaces encountered and imagined by the curators.
Still life is a genre defined by intimacy, by proximity, care, and sustained attention. Within its quiet cone of perception, objects become companions, witnesses, and vessels for presence and time. Cohen and Weishahn have drawn upon the relationships, tensions, and rhythms proposed by the artists’ work to design an immersive exhibition design. Over the past year, they have honed in on architectural elements, color, and ornamentation in search of a visual vocabulary sympathetic to the experience of still life.
Highlights include works by contemporary luminaries such as Susan Jane Walp and Aubrey Levinthal. Late renowned artists include 19th-century trompe-l’œil painter John F. Peto; African American still-life painter Charles Ethan Porter; and author, illustrator, and designer Edward Gorey, whose own passion for objects is conveyed in his meticulous drawings.
Seating areas throughout the exhibition, including a library of related publications and inspiration sources, encourage visitors to linger.
“We were inspired to create a space that is, above all, a place that welcomes visitors into the quiet beauty and specificity of these artists’ worlds,” said Weishahn.
Cohen and Weishahn’s curation reflects their personal attraction to and relationships with artists working across diverse media and at different stages of their careers. From artists in their 20s to their 90s, a quality of endurance threads its way through the exhibition.
“Still life is never early, never late, both never relevant and always relevant,” Cohen said. “It’s right on time.”
Exhibiting artists are Rotem Amizur, Lennart Anderson, James Bellew, Silas Borsos, Stepan Budulak, Mariel Capanna, Alex Cohen, François Dupuis, Elizabeth Endres, David Fertig, Edward Gorey, Brian Guerin, Johnny Izatt-Lowry, Dee Jenkins, Graesen Joyce, Clara Kewley, Ken Kewley, Robert M. Kulicke, Aubrey Levinthal, Susan Lichtman, David MacDonald, Alisa Maslova, Ruth Miller, Katja Oxman, Margaret Parish, Gillian Pederson-Krag, John F. Peto, Joseph Podlesnik, Charles Ethan Porter, Kate Powell, Gabriele Risso, E.M. Saniga, Mayumi Sarai, Kouta Sasai, James Stewart, Gwen Strahle, Rudolf Stumpf, Ali Sultan, Susan Jane Walp, and Allie Webb.
ArtYard is at 13 Front Street, Frenchtown, and is open Thursday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Friday through Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information on the exhibitions, events, and seasonal programming at ArtYard, visit artyard.org or call (908) 996-5018.