Back
Klimt02 Join Us Skyscraper.

Tiny Theatres of Still Life in Contemporary Jewellery. Spotlight Artworks by Klimt02

Published: 04.07.2025
Tiny Theatres of Still Life in Contemporary Jewellery. Spotlight Artworks by Klimt02.
Author:
Cécile Maes, Klimt02
Edited by:
Klimt02
Edited at:
Barcelona
Edited on:
2025
Tiny Theatres of Still Life in Contemporary Jewellery. Spotlight Artworks by Klimt02.

© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.

Intro
Still life —Stilleben in German, Nature morte in French— is the representation of inanimate objects: fruits, flowers, tableware, books, instruments, or even dead animals. It is also an invitation to the depth this genre breathes into the most ordinary things. These silent witnesses, caught between presence and absence, reveal the hidden poetry of material life.

In this Spotlight Artworks, we invite you to discover a selection of pieces that evoke, draw inspiration from, and call upon still life as a language—one that speaks through form, balance, and silence.

Version française - French version      View / hide description

It’s quite something when you think about it, still life was long considered the lowest rung in the hierarchy of genres, ranked below allegory, history painting, portraiture, or landscape. As if depicting inanimate objects somehow didn’t tell a story about life! And yet today, this genre fascinates us with the power of its compositions and the depth it breathes into the most ordinary things. Far from neutral, they invade our lives, revealing our tastes, fears, and hopes. Silent witnesses of our everyday lives and times, these objects become the main subject: without anyone to use them, they assert themselves through their very physical presence.

When we think of still life, we immediately recall the various layers of interpretation it evokes, the symbolism of objects, or the memento mori so prevalent in classical compositions. But here, we’re focusing on it as the painting of objects, offering a more prosaic reading: still life as material thought. Because painting objects says something about our relationship to the world, our absent yet implied body, our desires, and our connection to matter.
In this visual language where craftsmanship is celebrated, both the craftsperson shaping the objects and the artist portraying them, still lifes invite a careful gaze upon the object, revealing meaning and emotion. Seized by the artist’s hand, even the flattest, most uninspiring object can unveil unexpected depth.

Materiality and spirit are the fundamental building blocks of these still lifes, much like contemporary jewellery we aim to promote here on Klimt02. In this Spotlight Artworks, we invite you to discover a selection of pieces that evoke, draw inspiration from, and call upon still life as we know it as a pictorial genre.



While 17th-century Flemish painting marks the rise of still life as an autonomous genre, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, as early as the 16th century, may have set the trend with his surreal portraits composed of fruits, vegetables, flowers, or books. His composite heads are, above all, anthropomorphic still lifes that blur the boundary between the inanimate and the living, illusion and reality, all while revealing a careful observation of nature.

Creators of sensitive rebuses, Arcimboldo’s portraits breathe new life into these isolated elements which, once accumulated and composed, recall The Demiurge (Self-portrait David Bielander) by Simon and David Bielander. In this portrait, the mass of objects—the artist’s own creations—comes together to recompose his face. Known for transforming everyday items into jewellery and imbuing them with new life, Bielander offers a way of recreating and reviving a still nature. 


Simon and David Bielander. Photograph: Demiurge (Self-portrait David Bielander), 2013.


   >> More about this artwork and the author  



Like a meticulously composed assembly of elements, artist Namkyung Lee places at the heart of her work forms created by human hands—objects and architectural shapes—detached from the body yet charged with presence. Her pieces often feature compositions of vases, those fragile, transient containers that hold one or several flowers. Captured in the eternity of photography, these objects become silent protagonists of carefully staged scenes. Like in a still life, Namkyung Lee’s jewellery tells a story without characters, relying solely on material, colour, balance, and a certain symmetry.
By transforming familiar shapes into poetic compositions, she embraces the spirit of 17th-century paintings, which turned objects into symbols of vanity, the passage of time, but also a celebration of the tangible world.

It’s exciting to note how transparent containers occupy a unique place in this pictorial genre. Glasses, carafes, cups: these objects are often depicted in precarious balance, as if ready to shatter. This risk becomes almost the perfect excuse for the painter’s virtuoso exercise, who seeks to capture transparency, reflections, light, and the distortion of the background.

These objects reveal their interiors as if laid out on a dissection table: the glass is stripped bare to expose its soul. Artists multiply the angles, choose unexpected viewpoints, and question the complexity of perception and our desire to understand reality through material.


Namkyung Lee. Brooch: Still Life. Images for Recording of Things Around Me. 14th Bottle, 2023. Sterling silver, photograph printed on acrylic, pearl. From series: Image Archive.


   >> More about this artwork    ON SALE    and the author  



We also think of the Italian painter Giorgio Morandi, who arranged bottles and vases in almost meditative compositions, exploring their shapes and the subtle variations of light. Miki Asai refines her compositions to the brink of abstraction. The surface and background merge, seeming to swallow the objects. Only their contours reveal the nature of the items and bring them to the foreground. Miki’s pieces convey a sense of calm, offering a harmonious ensemble of colours, shapes, and volumes that obey the principles of unity and the beauty of balance.

Miki Asai. Brooch: Still Life, 2019. Wood, Japanese paper, lacquer, eggshell, mineral pigment, silver, stainless steel.


   >> More about this artwork    ON SALE    and the author  



The treatment of the background in traditional still life is particular. It appears to recede in order to direct attention to the object, creating a sense of intimacy and encouraging the viewer to look at it more closely than they might in everyday life.

Like a 17th and 18th century painter, Gésine Hackenberg, in her Still-lives series, cuts and dissects vintage glassware before recomposing it into wearable miniatures.
The artist draws inspiration from classical still life to offer a reinterpretation, transforming banal, seemingly insignificant objects into precious jewellery. The wearer’s body literally becomes the canvas for these contemporary still lifes.
Everyday objects, often charged with sentimental value, become silent portraits of those who used them. Hackenberg explores how these objects, both ordinary and essential, translate our stories and emotions, and how jewellery can embody this intimate relationship.
Gésine Hackenberg. Brooch: Pink Balancing Glass, 2015. Glass by Theresienthal, silver.


   >> More about this artwork    ON SALE    and the author  



And then, there’s the idea of the rebus introduced earlier. Elements that, once assembled, create a narrative for those willing to take the time to read it. Shapes, lines, and materials come together without hierarchy to form a conceptual and sensitive story.

Iris Bodemer, from my personal perspective, is the artist who best captures this potential. She arranges her pieces as sculptural entities where every object, gap, and balance carries subtle and precise emotion. No frills, just the intention to make visible.

In an installation developed like a diary of thoughts and experiences, brooches and other elements rest on wooden panels, blurring the boundaries between jewellery, painting, and narrative. Each panel resembles a page from a book for those who take the time to read, inviting viewers to explore and connect fragments — much like assembling a still life to uncover hidden meanings.

Despite their stillness, these objects seem alive with a quiet presence, whispering stories of past uses and memories. Bodemer’s gestural, intuitive approach avoids strict symmetry while maintaining the balance and focus typical of still life, where negative space holds as much weight as form. Each panel with a brooch is paired with a second panel bearing a drawing, creating a dialogue between object and image. When a brooch is worn, the panel remains on the wall with its empty space, quietly waiting for the jewel’s return. The jewel stands apart, drawing the viewer’s attention and asserting its own existence.


Panel view of the Installation by Iris Bodemer, brooches on panel, drawings. 114 x 165 cm, panels: 24 x 28 cm.


Iris Bodemer. Brooch: Untitled, 2006. Onyx, amber, natural fibre, wool.

   >> More about this artwork    ON SALE    and the author  



  >> Discover other Still life pieces at Klimt02  

About the author


Cécile Maes graduated from ENSA Limoges in design, specialising in Contemporary Jewellery. Her interest in jewellery grows from the human relationships games it involves. Social object, jewellery creates narratives and becomes a sign. Investigating classical typologies, her work is a re-interpretation where historical references and everyday exploration connect ideas to speak about jewellery, the reasons why we wear it and the meanings we give to it.

Mail: cilce.maes@gmail.com
Instagram: cilce_maes