In English-speaking cultures, the term “still-life painting” is commonly used to refer to the depiction of inanimate objects for the

sake of their qualities of form, color, texture, and composition. This phrase is a direct translation of the Dutch term stillleven,

which was coined during the 17th century in the midst of Holland’s “golden age” of still-life painting. The French and the Italians,

however, always referred to this genre, which dates back to antiquity, as la nature morte or la natura morta, meaning “dead

nature.”

The process of creating nature morte paintings could be described as follows. An artist carefully chooses a particular subject

and, inspired by a desire to capture its inherent beauty, manipulates it so that he may intimately observe and render its formal

qualities. However, by imposing his own observations upon a naturally existing subject, the artist ironically violates and destroys

its very purity.

The name Nature Morte/Dead Nature was consciously chosen for this exhibition. While the Dutch “still life” seems to imply a

pausing of life in order to contemplate its qualities, the French/Italian “dead nature” has a much harsher implication. The artist

captures the splendor of nature at a moment of perfection; but at the same time, he must arrest his subject’s natural course

in order to reap the rewards he desires. In our contemporary era of global warming and rapidly dwindling natural resources, in

which our own plundering of the earth has brought us to the brink of disaster, the quaint old term nature morte perhaps takes

on new currency, and new urgency. As civilization has advanced, so has mankind manipulated the cycles of nature to its own

advantage; but ultimately, to what end?

The works in Nature Morte/Dead Nature express humanity’s troubled, ambiguous relationship with nature through contemporary

interpretations of the traditional still-life genre. Through the paintings, sculptures, and photographs of artists Ori Gersht, Penelope

Gottlieb, Kaoru Mansour, Melvin Martinez, Cristina Lei Rodriguez, Andrew Taylor and Timothy Tompkins, this exhibition presents

seven distinct new ways of working with nature as subject matter.

1

ORI GERSHT

Both brutal and stunningly beautiful, Ori Gersht’s high-speed digital photographs meticulously capture the

explosion of elegant floral arrangements. The resulting paradox between creation and destruction is a mirror

of European history, fraught with both aesthetic achievement and terrible violence.

Blow Up: Untitled 4, 2007, Light jet print mounted on aluminum, 96 x 72 in., Ed 5/6 2

3

PENELOPE GOTTLIEB

Penelope Gottlieb refers to her drawings as “visual eulogies for lost plant life.” Working from vintage botanical

renderings and descriptions of threatened plant species, she creates comic-book images of lost or soon-

to-be-lost plants, exploding them in an apocalyptic landscape that reflects our own deteriorating planet.

Valerianella affinis, 2008, Ink, acrylic and oil on canvas panel, 50 x 40 in. 4

5

KAORU MANSOUR

For this exhibition, Kaoru Mansour altered her usual process of taking plants from nature and purchased

artificial ones instead. In a practice that negotiates between abstraction and representation, Mansour’s

mixed-media paintings utilize recognizable plant fragments and embellish them with layers of mark-making

until they become new, otherworldly forms.

Nature: Death #101, 2008, Mixed media on canvas, 60 x 44 in. 6

7

MELVIN MARTINEZ

Melvin Martinez employs a thick, impasto style to create mixed media paintings that are truly gardens of

excess. Applying his oils and acrylics with pastry bags and adding generous helpings of found objects

such as feathers, fake flowers, bows and mirrors, Martinez generates a playful and gaudy aesthetic that

nonetheless recalls the delicacy of nature.

Excess Garden, 2007, Mixed media on canvas, 7 x 7 ft. 8

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CRISTINA LEI RODRIGUEZ

Cristina Lei Rodriguez’s eccentric sculptural constructions, in which banal plant forms contort and transform

into glittery plastic creations, evoke a post-nuclear landscape in which the beautiful becomes monstrous,

and the monstrous becomes commonplace.

Flowering Moss with Rock, 2005, Plastic, foam, epoxy, Plexiglas and selected objects, 31 x 36 x 36 in. 10

11

ANDREW TAYLOR

“How to make something slow about something as fast as a moment is my obsession,” says Andrew

Taylor about his work. Relying on a close observation of nature, Taylor’s beautiful, meditative paintings are

a celebration of what is still possible in this medium, even as the environment around him changes by the

second.

Outside; Night 8, 2008, Oil on canvas, 72 x 72 in. 12

13

TIMOTHY TOMPKINS

Inspired by a unique combination of history painting, still life, and Pop Art, Timothy Tompkins takes images

from the media and renders them in a high-gloss, limited-color palette. The dramatic effect serves to

highlight our current obsession with material culture and sensationalism, as contrasted with the more

classical themes of human struggle and triumph.

10.24.07 After Turner, 2008, Commercial enamel on aluminum, 50 x 80 in. 14

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ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Penelope GottliebLives and works in Santa Barbara, CA

EDUCATIONBFA Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CAMFA University of California Santa Barbara, CA

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS2008 Gone, Nathan Larramendy Gallery, Ojai, CA2006 Trans-Ethnic, Nathan Larramendy Gallery, Ojai, CA2004 Reading Faces, Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Ori GershtBorn in Israel, lives and works in London

EDUCATIONBA Photography, Film & Video, University of Westminster, LondonMA Photography, Royal College of Art, London

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS2008 Time Folds, Angles Gallery, Santa Monica, CA2007 Time After Time, Mummery + Schnelle, London2006 The Clearing, Angles Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

Melvin MartinezLives and works in San Juan, Puerto Rico

EDUCATIONBFA Plastic Arts School of San Juan, Puerto Rico SELECTED EXHIBITIONS2007 Yvon Lambert, New York, NY2006 Group show, Yvon Lambert, New York, NY2005 Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico

Timothy TompkinsLives and works in Los Angeles, CA

EDUCATIONBFA Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA SELECTED EXHIBITIONS2007 Left Overs, Susanne Vielmetter L.A. Projects, Los Angeles, CA2006 Left Overs, Studio La Citta, Verona, Italy2005 Manifest Destiny, DCKT Contemporary, New York, NY

Cristina Lei RodriguezLives and works in Miami, FL

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS2007 Team Gallery, New York, NY2006 Endless Autumn, Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Miami, FL2005 Cristina Lei Rodriguez: New Works, Rocket Projects, Miami, FL

Kaoru MansourBorn in Japan, lives and works in Los Angeles, CA

EDUCATIONBFA Otis Art Institute

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS2008 Recent Work, g2 Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ2006 Recent Work, LMan Gallery, Los Angeles, CA2005 Recent Work, Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

Andrew TaylorBorn in Australia, lives and works in Los Angeles, CA

EDUCATIONBFA The Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS2007 Inside/Outside, Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney2005 El Contento, Crossley & Scott, Melbourne2004 Paintings 2003, Crossley & Scott, Melbourne

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