Still life has always been a favorite subject of mine, even though it has often been seen as standard and uncreative. I contemplate in silence before starting to depict the subject and thus creating an artwork. As such, still life can been seen as a byproduct of my contemplations. Contemplating on the still life is also contemplating on oneself, on a certain kind of existence, the existence of the objects, of the table, of the background, of the connection between the viewer and the viewed. They are independent of each other, yet related. In Oriental still life, the “still” refers to the person. Completing a still life is like having gone through a period of solitude and being filled with serenity.
