How artists animate the everyday.

Still lifes are often anything but still. The focus of our current exhibition ‘Still, Alive: The Quiet Continuum’, this enduring genre is rooted in traditions of careful observation and representation, yet artists have continually reimagined it, transforming quiet interior scenes and everyday objects into works rich with atmosphere, movement and, most importantly, life.

Evie Cahir 'Tess jumping from one part of the couch to the other, with her blue pants reflecting nicely on the white cushions'

This curated selection celebrates the many ways artists breathe vitality into the familiar. In Evie Cahir's pencil on paper work, a casually domestic scene becomes charged with atmosphere and kinetic energy - the central figure, Tess, seeming to leap from the frame. In Ken Reinhard's 'Bi Cubed' this sense of three-dimensionality is far more literal, with the artist creating a sculptural construction that is appears as a geometric extension of the canvas.

Ken Reinhard 'Bi Cubed'

Robert Klippel 'Collage'

For many artists, this sense of vitality emerges through the re-imagination of inanimate objects. In Yosl Bergner's ‘Enlightenment’ and Cally Lotz's ‘Drifting into fantasy’, everyday kitchen utensils are imbued with personality and narrative - a cheese grater appears illuminated by a higher power, while a basket of cutlery seems to dream of taking flight. These works infuse familiar objects with humour, symbolism and a distinctly dreamlike sensibility.

Yosl Bergner 'Enlightenment'

Cally Lotz 'Drifting into fantasy'

In more abstract compositions, colour and form become the primary vehicles for movement. Shapes shift, pulse and float across the picture plane, existing on the threshold of the still life genre while inviting new interpretations. In Lisa Banks' paintings, simply outlined ramekins are transformed through vibrant colour and expressive composition, creating an unexpected sense of animation.

Together, these works reveal the remarkable adaptability of the still life. Far from remaining still, these works continue to evolve, with even the most ordinary objects becoming vessels for vibrant movement and imaginative storytelling.

Nicola Mason 'Kitchen Greens II'

Sidney Nolan 'Still life with Butterfly'