On the still lifes of things

“I often realize that, in order for a person to deal with the things around him in a more conscious manner, he needs a serious amount of rest and time. In order to recognize the various functions and aspects of things, he needs to dwell on them.”

(From Erik De Kuyper, Dag stoel naast de tafel. Kroniek van het dagelijkse , p.37) 1

Writing about a still life is like turning a caleidoscope: many differing perspectives, visions, and aspects are possible. Writing about the still lifes created by jewelry designer Gésine Hackenberg is truly a caleidoscopic experience.  With every quarter turn of the head, her designs reveal a new perspective; suddenly every piece of the puzzle fits, forming a recognizable whole. Both colored and white parts of drinking glasses and kitchen jars flow together to form both optically and perspectively a sober and subtle still life. Each new glance brings forth new associations and connections. Contrary to what the term 'still life' suggests, it is 'live experience' that permeates the objects portrayed in these 'still lifes'. They tell a number of (art)historical and personal stories. By doing so, these wearable compositions become part of the recurring trademark/signature of Gésine Hackenberg's oeuvre, in which things and their emotional value play a highly important role.

Pictures of 17 th and 18 th century still lifes, as well as the development of the genre from colorful ‘ontbijtjes' (breakfast pieces) to monochromatic 'banketjes' (banquet pieces) en sumptuous ' pronkstillevens ', served as the main sources of inspiration for Hackenberg's newest series, entitled Still Lifes . The connection between the historical still lifes and her work is reflected on several different levels. Just as a still life painter, she exhibits a great sense of concentration and detail. She too regards objects of daily life in a slow and thoughtful manner, granting them an emotional revaluation in her work. As an artist of the present, she presents still lifes as a genre in a fascinating and contemporary fashion.

Directly inspired by the study ‘Still Life and Trade in the Dutch Golden Age' (2007 2 ) by art historian Julie Berger Hochstrasser, the Still Lifes series in a way refers to the economic bloom of Amsterdam during the Golden Age, visualized in the traditionally portrayed commodities in historical still lifes. References to commodities like bread, butter, cheese, and wine, are implicitly brought together in Hackenberg's designs, such as a green, transparent glass brooch matched with two drinking glasses to create an odd perspective. Its parts were minutely sliced from a thin Finnish drinking glass and brought together in a new composition, a still life. What immediate comes to mind is the image of rich wine glasses from 17 th century ‘pronkstillevens', such as the so-called ‘ roemers ' '(rummers), like a round or oval glass for white wine. Hochstrasser emphasizes the economic pride that such ' roemers ' with wine provoked in a 17 th century audience. She additionally states that a still life served as the ultimate ode to the economic bloom of the times. With this claim, she adds a new, positive dimension to the vanitas or symbolism of transience that was conventionally ascribed to such paintings. The jewelry still lifes of Gésine Hackenberg contribute a third significance to the work: not only are the implicit reference to the valuable commodities and the symbolical connotations present, but the realness and 'thing-ness' of the objects with their emotional value are traceable, as well.

The still lifes composed of bottles, pots and bowls, which can be worn as a brooch, have a formal austerity and subtle shades of color reminiscent of Chardin's 18 th century still lifes. His portrayals of the prosaic, such as the kitchen still lifes, reveal the hidden poetry and beauty of the objects. Gésine Hackenberg indeed feels like a kindred spirit of Chardin. They share a sensibility to and love for the beauty of the prosaic life. Morandi as well is admired by Hackenberg. A master of enigmatic still lifes with abstract compositions, he builds miniature worlds from bottles and pots. The same simplicity of colors and composition can be found in the brooches of Gésine Hackenberg.

As soon as they are worn on the body, an interesting mixture of the terms nature morte and tableau vivant arises: the human body serves as a canvas and simultaneously becomes a tableau vivant 3 , a 'living painting'. The objects and their souls then literally merge with the direct human environment; they are appropriated by the holder and become a part of our living world.

While traditional still lifes are a perfect imitatio or flat imitation of three-dimensional compositions, the brooches and necklaces of Gésine Hackenberg belong to an alienating stage, in between 3D and 2D. By slicing existing pots, bowls and glasses, three-dimensional compositions are created which, on first sight, appear to be two-dimensional. It is exactly this optical game that results in a fascinating and alienating effect. Each piece consequently questions the nature of still lifes and the traditional renaissance perspective. One almost immediately visualizes the references to Picasso's and Braque's cubic still lifes, in which different perspectives are portrayed. In the analysis and fragmentation of objects and in the reconstruction of parts on a canvas, one instantly recognizes the similarity to the still lifes of Hackenberg. Even the remarkable stage between 3D and 2D can be linked to the cubic experiments. Take the work of Braque and Juan Gris in which the object itself – in its real form – becomes a part of the cubic collage in the shape of newspaper clippings, wood, wallpaper fragments…which in turn accentuates the three-dimensional aspect of the canvas. These works engendered a comparable alienating effect between 2D and 3D. A similar form of alienation is evoked by the stone brooches, cut in perspective, also resulting in a blurring of the boundaries between two and three-dimensionality in these designs.

The goblet necklaces accentuate another aspect: movement. The liquid movement when pouring out a glass is displayed by the fragmentation of the glass goblet. Just as in the well-known ' Nu descendant un escalier No 2' (1912) by Marcel Duchamp, the chain of successive phases of movement causes a sense of dynamic. As a result, the still life of the objects evolves into subtle movement and stirrings. These objects may be lifeless, but they are permeated by 'live experience' and stories.

----Evelien Bracke, August 2009

All My Treasure-
Occasionally, the realm of jewellery and commodities come together very closely...
Objects we use everyday become intimately precious and indispensable to us, just as it happens to a piece of jewellery we wear day in, day out.
On the one hand there are objects that help us to master our daily lives in a purely functional way. But on the other there are those to which we feel very close, to which we are joined as it were. Maybe this is because they've just always been there. Or maybe our mother and grandmother already used them. It might be just a tiny detail that fascinates us, almost nothing. Sometimes they seem to embody our wishes, moods, memories, a certain goal or habit, our affiliation with a certain group?
And then again they may not be really practical at all.
But still we like using them and in a very personal way they seem to belong to us like we belong to them. For such an object adapts through our specific way of handling.
We love them. They become the jewels in our daily lives.
I'm fascinated by the aspect of personal preciousness revealed in all kinds of belongings. Especially in objects that seem to find a place close and near to the body. I explore how these pieces can relate to the body and examine this relationship through its connection.
The use of these things pertains to body measurement and the wearing of jewellery is about use in daily life.
My materials of choice are precious metals, antique ceramics, glass and textiles, as well as the very tough and resistant Japanese Urushi lacquer. These all come from interlocking themes of household, kitchen, table and food culture. These materials seem to embody this fleeting commonplace culture surrounding us by preserving it.
Often my objects and jewels, 'kleinoden ' (Dutch for little treasures), are primarily small, autonomous objects. Either through its use (spoons) or an intervention in the original object (ceramic jewellery), a relationship with the body is established or the object is made wearable.
I want to allow the object and the jewellery to exist in both environments.

Gésine Hackenberg