Livie Gallery is pleased to present Stillleben | Still Life, an exhibition that brings together four contemporary artists from the gallery’s program in dialogue with works by masters of the 20th century.When it became apparent that Sarah Bogner, André Butzer, Austin Eddy and Ralph Bürgin were all engaging with still life in their respective practices, the idea emerged to curate a focused presentation - one that opens a space for reflection on the genre’s history while also engaging its contemporary and future possibilities, with the aim to contribute meaningfully to the ongoing discourse around painting today.We are honored to include in the exhibition two seminal paintings by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, both executed in 1918 yet strikingly different in character. One still routed in the hard lines of Expressionism, the other, finished in 1919, already paving the way to a softer more playful approach, possibly reflecting an end of the war and conflict. A small painting by Emil Nolde of a vase with flowers from 1915 is a beautiful example of a reorient-tation towards the proximate and tangible in times of great turmoil. These historic works are completed by a painting by Félix Vallotton from 1922, which seems deceivingly classical at first sight, and a gouache by Sigmar Polke from 2000, poking fun at the bourgeoise aspects of flower painting. We are grateful to the four participating artists for contributing personal statements about their works in the show, which we are delighted to share with you.My still lifes of fruit and flowers are my rootings, my counterweights, and grounding forces — ornamental and concrete, classical and progressive at the same time. This is a series I am continuing to develop. I work on paper, raw cotton, and primed canvas. I like ink for its permeability, egg tempera because it’s never quite the same, and acrylic because it causes no problems. In short: water, oil, and plastic. I see painting as a relay — everything has already been painted, and everything is in the process of being painted. The outcome is uncer-tain from the vantage point of now. The task is to paint the next possible image and to advocate for an unfin-ished future, without losing connection to the painters who came before. My painting is always rooted in the present, without being tied to the zeitgeist. I stand on the shoulders of painting. Friendship is essential. Many of the friends I speak with about painting have been dead for centuries. It’s a Janus-faced practice. I look both forward and back. Immersion matters more to me than inspiration. – Sarah BognerWe see Mediterranean fruits, peaches, oranges and lemons, laid out and dispersed, descending and ascend-ing, floating about. The abundant red of the canvas does not only constitute the surrounding ambience or an interi-or, in union with the spaces between the delicate hues it is the site of the image itself. The fruits come in and out of appearance. Everything is accommodated in the complete existence of the image, in which every-thing that was, is and will be, is present at the same time. In this temporal coherence, the fruits are cyclically round-ed in themselves and embody new beginnings, maturing, rebirth and renewed ripening. Their appear-ance is both a decorative ornament and protective peel, the completion of an old life and the vessel for a new one.– Christian Malycha on André ButzerBefore I paint a still life, I sit down at a table and close my eyes.  I look at a world without shadows, without light. A room, a window, a table. There is a teapot, a chair, a skull, a cup here and there, perhaps a teaspoon. At first, everything appears dark and vague, then gradually brightens like a Polaroid photo in the development process. It is illuminated and enlivened by something that is simply the experience of painting. – Ralph BürginThere is a complex simplicity to painting something mundane and everyday. These everyday objects are deep-ly relatable and extremely open ended. This openness is a way to quietly open the door to complicated and metaphorical issues via something pretty universally understood. The painting of a flower has innumerable meanings, and each person brings their own relationship to the table. Still life paintings provide not only a group of formal objects to abstract, but also a way to bury a narrative and create an open dialogue with the viewer. Painting objects is not just painting what one sees, but a way to paint life and all its complicated emotions and relationships both internal and external.– Austin Eddy