Original artwork description:

The consensus in the art world is that still life painting is one of the lowest genres of art - apparently just painting household stuff lying around the house like fruit, mugs, dish cloths, dead hares, is less noble than depicting a horrific Nazi air attack on a village in the Basque region. O-K. Pliny the Elder called panel painter Peiraikos 'low' for his still life mosaic depictions of "barbers' shops, cobblers' stalls, asses, eatables and similar subjects". Nice. Even so still-life depictions of food in Egyptian tombs were thought to become real and thus sustain the deceased in their hour of need. Nothing low about that. The Dutch popularised still life painting - 'stilleven' - with their images of flowers, napkins, mouldy cheese, stale bread. So what is the modern equivalent of a dead duck? If a still life subject is artfully positioned household detritus sprawled over your kitchen table how much lower can you go these days than the humble, but absolutely essential, phone charger?

Materials used:

Acrylics

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