Still Life with African Mask Painting

Although this still life was finished in June 2023, its gestation period was fairly long, as it was worked on sporadically over some number of years. Being the first in a series of still life paintings, it helped me find my way to deal with this genre. Each of the objects in the painting has a special significance for me. The African mask, for example, is associated with experiences on my visits to Africa. The central female statue, which was originally in my family home, has come to represent the spirit of my deceased mother; and the sculpture of a couple embracing, which was made by my older brother and passed to me after his death, has come to represent his passion for life and art.