Artists:
Christian Fielitz & Philipp Christop Hass

"Still Life" seems a misleading title for an exhibition that features figures and cityscapes. Indeed, the title does not refer to the traditional genre of paintings depicting inanimate objects, like fruit and jugs arranged on a table. Instead – taken literally – "Still Life" refers to the atmosphere captured in the paintings on display: the "quiet life" that unfolds in front of our eyes day after day, but, in times of constant overstimulation of the senses, cannot attract our attention: Dusty late afternoon light falling on a quiet Soi with only a few passers-by walking between parked cars, a nearly empty highway section, a figure in a dark interior, only a silhouette against half closed shutters, seemingly absorbed in the sounds emanating from the street.

The title also makes reference to the stillness of the painting process itself. The paintings, as a result of this decelerated process, refuse to compete for the short-term attention of media consumers. No quick digital image production and processing, a focus on certain qualities that have always been inherent in representational painting. Those are qualities that have to do with the “duration” of the painting process. Only the willingness to slow down, pause, reflect, to take time and get involved, allows the painter to transform his perceptions into visual poetry on the canvas. In this sense, the pictures in the exhibition are also a commentary on the time in which we live.