SLwB started for me in May 2010 when Grahame Weinbren asked if i'd be interested in working with him once again.
From the pre-production phase, when looking for a suitable studio space, I realized that my roles with the project would be numerous.
Once a studio was secured and the work began, Grahame's vision and excitement now more evident, I couldn't resist my desire to take on an extra task and capture what truly happened behind the SLwB scenes.
Not much of a surprise, my approach to art while engaged in this project has changed somewhat. Perhaps it simply reinforced that, which I had already felt in my relationship with art for quite some time.
Looking at the final result of this, or any other project, I suppose (the lush images, the vivid projections displayed on huge screens and the reactions of the patrons seated at the elegantly prepared banquet tables) would not have been what it appeared to, or was meant to be without the encounter of the entire process I was immersed in while working with SLwB.
A slight movement on the table, a shift in the blades of grass by a fraction of an inch, a missing walnut (and then two), a tiny single, crisp green plant coming up while all other nature has died, a gradually diminishing plate of almonds or pistachio bowl, imaginary (or not) tiny scratching sounds, the slightest move of the table cloth in a very still, draft free studio...
Perhaps such acuity of observation stemmed from my daily, and generous in time, visits to our still life image production studio. Willingness to be there despite the stench of the rotting organic elements, chasing away fruit flies attracted not only to the smell of the fruit but the sweat of one of the worst heat waves, getting caught fixing technology long after midnight when a storm reeked havoc and the studio windows allowed torrential rain to leak into the studio. Sharpened sense to the tiniest detail and sound. If I thought I saw or heard something - I wasn't just imaging it.
Still life. There is nothing still about it.
Understanding the layers of which this beauty is created with heightens our sense of appreciation. To truly admire a piece of artwork, one needs to experience it on all different levels.
The process itself of standing in front of, and looking at a piece of artwork deprives the viewer of an adequate level of pleasure and of the realization of what such art is really about.
Since there is nothing still about still life, appreciating art cannot take place by simply feasting ones eyes on it. It needs to be interactive and experienced. The viewers need to have the opportunity and be provided with the means to feel it almost with their hands on. Only then, art can be something other than just an item of objectification and one to attach a price tag to, contemplate, marvel at and debate about. Still Life with Banquet is an example of quite an interactive work of art.
My experience with SLwB is quite rich in details, some of which will be included on this page, in my favorites, or through various date entries in the chronology of events page. I will update it periodically.
I have created this Web site as an historical record, a document of the making of the Still Life with Banquet but also as a kind of memoir of my personal experience with the project. This work also expresses my gratitude to Grahame Weinbren for giving me an opportunity of such experience with art.
Looking at and reminiscing on the event, which took place on September 14, 2010, I can't help but miss the entire process of the making of the project.
Just as many challenges as the project and Grahame experienced during the process of its making, SLwB was also one of my big challenges. A challenge nonetheless, that with commitment, passion, determination and art was an incredible one for me to accept and overcome.
