Lucia Klarin

Giustapporre

Giustapporre is a series of framed photographs and alternate process prints that play with the dichotomy between the historic and contemporary. Referencing the past to comment on the present, this work explores the era of Italian Renaissance and Baroque portrait painting and the styling of Vanitas still lifes to develop a contemporary collection of photographs, that represent both portraiture and objects that relate. The images contain classic imagery included in portraits and still lives of the time, often common objects and floral arrangements. These scenes are captured in a strong lighting contrast of light and dark, loosely mimicking the commonly used painting technique, chiaroscuro. Presenting a distinct juxtaposition, all portraits are encased in gold gilded frames, emulating the grandeur of the museum portraits, while still-life imagery is printed in the historic Van Dyke brown process and loosely pinned up, posing a more preliminary feel. The intersection of past and present, formal and informal, polished and imperfect, digital and analog, raises questions of interpretation about historical influences on contemporary perspectives.