The New Vanitas Project, 2005 (Gary Setzer & Jennifer Locke)
The New Vanitas Project is a reinterpretation of Jan Van Huysum’s 1722 painting, Fruit Piece, aligning its theme (the brevity of life) with its contemporary counterparts. The centerpiece of the space is a plastic-flower recreation of Van Huysum’s impossible cross-seasonal arrangement warmed by artificial sunlight-spectrum bulbs. The flanking video monitors scroll phrases modeled after advertising slogans and self-help idioms. Clean electronic music swirls around the space, finishing off the plastic utopian ambience.