Momento Mori and the art of painting an apple

I always found still life painting to be one of the least interesting genres in art history. That said, I loved how painting an apple could be turned macabre.

When Paul Cézanne was painting his studies of fruit, he was exploring formal composition and the geometrical construction of shapes and planes. To me, it always seemed like he was more interested in the form of paint than the content the form took. But Cézanne obviously acknowledged the traditions that pre-dated him, like Momento Mori.

Momento Mori is a latin phrase that essentially translates to "Remember, you're going to die". As an artistic genre it covered any work that focused on mortality.

It sometimes was very subtle...

And sometimes quite obvious.

As I muse on the history and traditions that come before me, I try to find the context for my work. And as mundane as still lifes will ever be, I wonder if I'll ever overcome my fetishistic focus on the paint of paintings.

For now remember, these are paintings. Momento Pictori.