THE BASKET CASE

Still Life with a Basket of Fruit, Vegetables and Flowers

James Aponovich

Oil on canvas, 28" x 26"

WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND

Some things just never go away. Take the basket. The first decorations on pots from the Ancient Levant were reed baskets pressed onto the clay. It was if to say, "I know this pot is new technology, but it's function is the same as the basket,...to hold things." Now, you can buy plastic woven baskets pressed out in China.

Once a year or so, I feel compelled to paint a bowl or basket of fruit and I owe a debt to a painter I probably would not have gotten along with....

MICHELANGELO MERSI

aka.

CARAVAGGIO

Boy with Basket of Fruit

Caravaggio

oil on canvas, 1593

Caravaggio was the genius boy painter as thug, but that's another story for another time. Let's just say, we would call him 'troubled'. The hand that paints the painting doesn't always belong to the body that walks and talks.

Caravaggio began his career painting two things, portraits and still lives. He is reported ( although most of his 'reports' are through police records) to have said,"Good still life painting requires as much of his artistry as good figure painting." Good painting is good painting regardless of subject matter, a bold statement in the 16th Century when most artists were trying to procure large religious commissions.

THE MASTERPIECE AS STILL LIFE

Still Life with Basket of Fruit

Caravaggio

oil on canvas, 1601

His is only known painting that is exclusively still life. It was probably a commission from Cardinal Borromeo. To the Cardinal, these were not just pieces of fruit they celebrated God's creation in their fidelity to nature. Also, in true vanitas tradition the blemished apple and shriveled leaves are reminders ( as if we need them) of mortality and the ultimate vanity of earthly things. So, my debt to Caravaggio is that he was in fact, the first Italian painter since the Romans, to pay serious artistic attention to the still life. Later today, I will raise a glass of wine to him......he would have liked that.

{week 30}

Copyright 2015 James Aponovich