LIVING STILL LIFES. CONFESSIONS

It should be remembered that it was Eve, in paradise, who by biting the historic apple and feeling naked, paired and consumed eroticism. That is why even today one of the ways to achieve a good pact for a good night is still set by a good dinner. Since that moment, all civilizations and cultures have sought aphrodisiacs and sexual stimulants in food. It was the Dutch painters of the 17th century who established the theme of still life as a great artistic subject. It was a tribute to the bourgeoisie, a new and increasingly powerful social class: their achievements could not be exalted by war feats or kinship with the gods of Olympus; instead, the opulence they introduced into daily life had to be manifested. Thus, in the great pictorial compositions, markets, kitchens, and laid tables appeared, displaying a superior standard of living. These were the still lifes that shamelessly showed excellent vegetables, fruits, and produce arriving at Dutch ports from all over the world. All the vegetables became prominent protagonists of the pictorial work, to the point that Claude Monet said that all the strawberries in the world belonged to Chardin and all the apples belonged to Cézanne. The profound gazes that painters fixed on fruits, vegetables, fish, and birds... the looks cast on everything that entered the kitchen resulted in an unintended outcome: the analysis of the morphology of the pepper, the apple, the vegetable, the fish, the birds revealed strong coincidences between a mussel and a female sex organ, between a banana and a male sex organ—just to mention two of the most evident and well-known examples. Many evidences and suggestions. Vanessa Miralles’s photographs are Living Natures because she is the one who gives them their definitive meaning, joining or highlighting elements to establish contrasts, to create new symbolisms. It is not just a formal exercise; it is an introspection—a confession—of how vegetables, fruits, fish, and birds, when manipulated in the kitchen, sometimes lead to more intimate sensations. Leaf and banana, glass and mussel—two examples—go beyond formal evidence: they contain a feminine and feminist reflection on the value of gender. This exhibition presents Living Natures because they are not an object of cold contemplation but of incisive and warm introspection.