February 25, 2022-March 19, 2022 | Gallery Hours: Hours: Tu, W, F, Sa 10-5:30, Th 11-7
Cornelius Volker explores the thorny relationships we humans have with nature and time in a series of paintings that, while rooted in conventions of historical European painting, are eminently contemporary.
Paired with the unorthodox landscapes in this show are still life paintings akin to those of the golden age of Dutch painting. Jars of pickled foodstuffs - cucumbers, herring filets, beets and white asparagus - glow softly in the shimmer of a candle stub. In other paintings, a kidney floats in a dusty specimen jar or two hearts lie next to one another under a harsh light.
Dutch stilleven, meaning "motionless" or "silent," were carefully staged arrangements of perishable foods - ripe fruit, sumptuous shellfish, oysters and meats - laid out on Chinese porcelain and polished silver, arranged with flowers and Venetian glass, and displayed on a Turkish rug-draped table. Celebrations of opulence, material beauty and sensuality, their message is that life is brief; live it while you can.
But they're also paintings about lavish consumption. In the 17th century, the Low Countries exploded economically. The newly rich merchant class was eager to show off the luxury their global commerce-based wealth was able to purchase. This was the first international, consumer-based culture, and they pursued it with abandon.
As the Dutch paintings reflect the social and cultural climate of their time, Cornelius Volker's paintings mirror contemporary concerns.
While Volker's burning candle signals the inevitable passage of time, the jarred condiments allude to our attempt to stop it. In these pictures, the food never spoils. But neither is it mouthwatering, sumptuous or exotic. It's cheap, mass-produced and sterile in its brine. How dulled by lives of affluence have we become? Are we so obsessed with youth, with arresting time and living forever, that we never actually taste life?
Free
Presented by Hosfelt Gallery.
show less
Cornelius Volker explores the thorny relationships we humans have with nature and time in a series of paintings that, while rooted in conventions of historical European painting, are eminently contemporary.
Paired with the unorthodox landscapes in this show are still life paintings akin to those of the golden age of Dutch painting. Jars of pickled foodstuffs - cucumbers, herring filets, beets and white asparagus - glow softly in the shimmer of a candle stub. In other paintings, a kidney floats in a dusty specimen jar or two hearts lie next to one another under a harsh light.
Dutch stilleven, meaning "motionless" or "silent," were carefully staged arrangements of perishable foods - ripe fruit, sumptuous shellfish, oysters and meats - laid out on Chinese porcelain and polished silver, arranged with flowers and Venetian glass, and displayed on a Turkish rug-draped table. Celebrations of opulence, material beauty and sensuality, their message is that life is brief; live it while you can.
But they're also paintings about lavish consumption. In the 17th century, the Low Countries exploded economically. The newly rich merchant class was eager to show off the luxury their global commerce-based wealth was able to purchase. This was the first international, consumer-based culture, and they pursued it with abandon.
As the Dutch paintings reflect the social and cultural climate of their time, Cornelius Volker's paintings mirror contemporary concerns.
While Volker's burning candle signals the inevitable passage of time, the jarred condiments allude to our attempt to stop it. In these pictures, the food never spoils. But neither is it mouthwatering, sumptuous or exotic. It's cheap, mass-produced and sterile in its brine. How dulled by lives of affluence have we become? Are we so obsessed with youth, with arresting time and living forever, that we never actually taste life?
Free
Presented by Hosfelt Gallery.
February 25, 2022-March 19, 2022 | Gallery Hours: Hours: Tu, W, F, Sa 10-5:30, Th 11-7
Cornelius Volker explores the thorny relationships we humans have with nature and time in a series of paintings that, while rooted in conventions of historical European painting, are eminently contemporary.
Paired with the unorthodox landscapes in this show are still life paintings akin to those of the golden age of Dutch painting. Jars of pickled foodstuffs - cucumbers, herring filets, beets and white asparagus - glow softly in the shimmer of a candle stub. In other paintings, a kidney floats in a dusty specimen jar or two hearts lie next to one another under a harsh light.
Dutch stilleven, meaning "motionless" or "silent," were carefully staged arrangements of perishable foods - ripe fruit, sumptuous shellfish, oysters and meats - laid out on Chinese porcelain and polished silver, arranged with flowers and Venetian glass, and displayed on a Turkish rug-draped table. Celebrations of opulence, material beauty and sensuality, their message is that life is brief; live it while you can.
But they're also paintings about lavish consumption. In the 17th century, the Low Countries exploded economically. The newly rich merchant class was eager to show off the luxury their global commerce-based wealth was able to purchase. This was the first international, consumer-based culture, and they pursued it with abandon.
As the Dutch paintings reflect the social and cultural climate of their time, Cornelius Volker's paintings mirror contemporary concerns.
While Volker's burning candle signals the inevitable passage of time, the jarred condiments allude to our attempt to stop it. In these pictures, the food never spoils. But neither is it mouthwatering, sumptuous or exotic. It's cheap, mass-produced and sterile in its brine. How dulled by lives of affluence have we become? Are we so obsessed with youth, with arresting time and living forever, that we never actually taste life?
Free
Presented by Hosfelt Gallery.
read more
Cornelius Volker explores the thorny relationships we humans have with nature and time in a series of paintings that, while rooted in conventions of historical European painting, are eminently contemporary.
Paired with the unorthodox landscapes in this show are still life paintings akin to those of the golden age of Dutch painting. Jars of pickled foodstuffs - cucumbers, herring filets, beets and white asparagus - glow softly in the shimmer of a candle stub. In other paintings, a kidney floats in a dusty specimen jar or two hearts lie next to one another under a harsh light.
Dutch stilleven, meaning "motionless" or "silent," were carefully staged arrangements of perishable foods - ripe fruit, sumptuous shellfish, oysters and meats - laid out on Chinese porcelain and polished silver, arranged with flowers and Venetian glass, and displayed on a Turkish rug-draped table. Celebrations of opulence, material beauty and sensuality, their message is that life is brief; live it while you can.
But they're also paintings about lavish consumption. In the 17th century, the Low Countries exploded economically. The newly rich merchant class was eager to show off the luxury their global commerce-based wealth was able to purchase. This was the first international, consumer-based culture, and they pursued it with abandon.
As the Dutch paintings reflect the social and cultural climate of their time, Cornelius Volker's paintings mirror contemporary concerns.
While Volker's burning candle signals the inevitable passage of time, the jarred condiments allude to our attempt to stop it. In these pictures, the food never spoils. But neither is it mouthwatering, sumptuous or exotic. It's cheap, mass-produced and sterile in its brine. How dulled by lives of affluence have we become? Are we so obsessed with youth, with arresting time and living forever, that we never actually taste life?
Free
Presented by Hosfelt Gallery.
show less
Date/Times:
260 Utah Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
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