I am loving Ori Gersht these days. His work turns the idea of still life into something entirely new and I love it. The video above is a reference to traditional Dutch and Spanish still life; precisely arranged fresh items that imply an impending decay. Gersht interrupts that implication by transforming the still life into a violent action frame. As in "Pomegranate", the video piece, Gersht uses a violent explosion or anonymous violent act to disrupt the serenity of the scene. The photos bellow are from his series "Time After Time"; bouquets are frozen with liquid nitrogen and shattered at the moment the photo is taken. As described by the Hirshorn Museum,
His imagery does not decay by dissolving over time; it combusts and then, in the type of slow motion used to depict extreme violence in feature films, recalls the time-lapse imagery of Harold Edgerton’s scientific action photography. Gersht updates the concept of vanitas by creating meditations on how violence in contemporary life is often random, anonymous and unpredictable. Triggering a visceral response, these films translate the experiences of the artist’s fear-filled childhood in Israel into provocative statements that have global resonance.
