Still Life art is a captivating genre that invites viewers to appreciate the beauty and significance of ordinary objects carefully arranged and captured in a static composition. Stillness in Motion is an exhibition that seeks to showcase the beauty, diversity, and complexity of still life art throughout history to modern day representation. This show allows artists to speak through inanimate objects using their specific style and choice of symbolism. This act of artistic creation invites viewers to appreciate the quiet beauty of everyday objects and the stories they tell, providing a space for introspection, contemplation, and connection. 

The relationship we hold with our everyday devices hold a multitude of layers. Our inanimate objects hold memories, experiences, and emotions. A still life can stand in the simplest form of celebrating our everyday material goods. A still life can also tell a story of a timeless testament to our shared or personal experiences as mortal beings. Our lives are fast paced and constantly in motion, and at times hard to conceptualize. When we allow ourselves to take a moment and experience hush, we may find it easier to process life as we know it. Stillness in Motion is intended to evoke that same feeling, transforming our perception of the world around us.

Stillness in Motion will give the spotlight to artists from the greater Cincinnati, Ohio region. The goal of the pieces showcased in this exhibition is to reflect timeless aspects of everyday life. Each work carries a unique message intended to evoke familiar and/or new emotions and memories. With every wall of this exhibition offering up classic and modern still-life art, it will be easy for patrons to find something new that will leave them feeling inspired.

This Fall, 1628 is proud to give a spotlight to 21 talented artists from the Cincinnati, Dayton, and Northern Kentucky area in our exhibition, Stillness in Motion: Still Life Art and its Reflection on Human Existence. This show features artists including Arynn Blazer, Sam Engel, and Katherine M.F. Brenner. 

Arynn Blazer, a Cincinnati native, taps into the natural rhythms and seasons of life by infusing gardening, foraging and natural dying into her creative practice. Whether captured by lens or thread, her work is still and soft, centering and savoring the small and fleeting moments of life.

“Still life with Dandelion, Black Walnut and Citrus capture slow moments in life, inviting viewers to pause and find beauty in the simplicity of their surroundings. These slow unhurried rhythms serve as gentle reminders to cherish the moments that pass by unnoticed, and to cultivate a deeper connection with the rhythms of the natural world.”

Sam Engel is a fifth year BFA candidate at the University of Cincinnati in the Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) program with a focus in drawing and painting. They have been a part of multiple group exhibitions in the Tabula Rasa Gallery. They worked in roles in art production and as a gallery intern. Sam’s interests currently reside in the realm of horror, the uncanny, and storytelling using acrylic and oil paints, chalk pastels, and ink pens. They use these as a mode of reflecting on their Catholic upbringing and their experience with their body as a transgender individual.

“In the greater context of my work, I often refer to my complicated experience with the body using decay and aspects of the uncanny in a desire to be understood. Sacrifice is built off of the frustrations of having something incorrectly applied to you for as long as you’ve been alive and thus feeling guilty for denying it. This narrative enters the stage in how I feel anxious and guilty for denying my parents a daughter in place of something else, in purging femininity at the discomfort of others. The guilt of becoming a sort of interloper, but also knowing that if this thing is not given up it is going to fester. A sacrifice entails one thing is being given up in place of another, traditionally in a religious context. A still life makes a story out of a collection of objects, these ones being from my childhood and teenage years. The most recent part of this painting is the fire.”

Katherine Brenner is a midwest based conceptual artist and photographer. She utilizes still photography, installation, video and sculpture to create dynamic environments. Shifts in personal identity and interpersonal connections weave through the themes of her work and the visual stories she tells, offering interaction and introspection for viewers. An Art Academy of Cincinnati and University of Cincinnati DAAP alum, she is an experienced college and community level educator, and arts program manager. Over the last 20 years, Brenner has been showcased regionally, including Earlham College, Manifest Gallery, and the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

“My work seeks to process the passage of time, how an identity evolves, authenticity, and the performance of self. Within my studio practice scenes, performances and objects evolve to be interacted with and photographed, and time based works are created. Often these are materialized from hair, textiles, nature, and personal collections. The act of creating these images and objects is performative in nature. I am attracted to the meditative qualities of repetitive tasks such as scrubbing, washing, sewing, knitting, and the alchemy of alternative processes as a space for processing emotion and the passage of time. Through my work I create intimacy with life and decay, while searching for a deeper understanding of purpose and existence. I invite the viewer to step into an experience and story where they may reflect and find connection within themselves.The series Babel began in the winter of 2020 in a global pandemic where everything is temporary and uncontrolled. It explores the self that we face when we can no longer hide, the grief and mourning of identity which is often performed, and pays homage to life and dreams which are lost along the way. An ongoing body of photographic works, it offers an experience of a lingering death and pause which enables the time and readiness for the next phase in life. Babel bears witness to what remains and what is transformed, celebrated, and resurrected in a world of fragments strung together without answers.”

The Fall 2023 Exhibition will be on display August 28th – November 16th, 2023.

Multiple pieces in this exhibition are for sale. If you are interested in purchasing any artwork from the show, please contact us at art@1628ltd.com.