Nothing seems to be as peaceful as a still-life, and yet this genre is no less than a provocation. The glossily brilliant Dutch paintings – in which shop window displays, fruit and vegetables resemble a demonstration of the power of painting skills \u2013 actually convey deeper moral messages, bluntly reminding the suitably educated observer of his transience. But today’s art historians cannot agree on quite how much literary sermon is concealed in this kind of painting, and to what extent they were simply a bigoted excuse to go on producing glossy painted surfaces with impunity.<\/p>\n
The work of Luzia Simons is located precisely at this interface between the obvious and the cultural code, naked reproduction and metaphor.
\nUsing modern scanning techniques, the artist produces images of flowers. In this way, her images not only come to include the ideal forms of blossoming beauty, but also faults, malfunctions and the start of irrevocable decay. Simons’ art, however, is not primarily concerned with the warning of vanitas – the reminder of the transience of all being in the old paintings -, but with the rather rambling tale of a cultural symbol. The tulip thus becomes a metaphor of mobility, globalisation and intercultural identity. Once the much sought-after flower was worth its weight in gold, and developed into a cultural symbol in both the Occident and Orient. Originating from the Orient, it was brought to Europe and altered by cultivation in Holland; finally, it returned to its ancient origins in new varieties \u2013 thus becoming an example of cultural migration, a symbol of exchange and of insidious changes in aesthetic significance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","categories":[],"class_list":["post-12148","kb_exhibition","type-kb_exhibition","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"article_image":15437,"article_image_bu_de":"","article_image_bu_en":"","datum_suche":"2014-06-20 10:40:15"},"yoast_head":"\n