Quotidian Objects

Within The Golden Age of Dutch Painting (1568–1648) artists approached the subject of still life as an opportunity to show off their skills in painting textures and surfaces in almost photorealistic detail. Most paintings had a moralistic message, to point at the brevity (and wonder) of life. Quotidian Objects is a photographic exercise in recreating the essence of masters such as Van Weenix (1640-1719) and Jan van Huysum (1682 - 1749) in the medium of lenticular print. Robb enlisted the help of professional florists Augustus Bloom and Gail Smith - who creates floral arrangements for the National Gallery. Incorporating as many flower types as were available at the time (March) and using large scale prints of the original paintings as reference Robb set to work in the studio. In Jan Van Huysum 2.0 the challenge was to get as close to the original painting [Flowers in a Terracotta Vase] as possible using butterflies, moths, snails, bird’s nest and eggs to recreate the majesty of the era in three dimensional photography.