One of art’s classic genres – the depiction of everyday objects – has been explored with fascinating results by contemporary artists, from Ori Gersht’s exploding floral arrangements to Peter Jones’s paintings of stuffed monkeys, Cindy Wright’s “Nature Morte” with a gutted fish in a bowl or Darren Jones’s clusters of 21st-century personal objects we accumulate when travelling.
For our latest Share Your Art assignment, we want to see your takes on the genre. As our critic Jonathan Jones wrote: “The still life is democratic; anyone can do it. Pick up a pencil and draw your lunch, as the cartoonist Robert Crumb ritualistically does. Or take your camera and survey the ordinary things around you. Click the shutter on a bunch of grapes or a bottle of ketchup. Is that a still life?” The answer is complicated, especially in the era of Instagram and ubiquitous mobile photography. As always, you can interpret the theme in any way you like, and any materials are fine, from pen and ink to needlework or film. If you’d prefer to discuss your favourite still-life artworks, please do so in the comment thread.
If you need inspiration, take a look at this gallery of the 10 best contemporary still lifes, and at Jonathan Jones’s piece on still-life photography.
We’re getting excited about our forthcoming exhibition in London, where we’ll be showing the best of your submitted work. Click here for everything you need to know. It is important to note that we won’t accept more than three submissions per user for each assignment.
This project is open to everyone, but there are a few guidelines you need to follow if you’d like to submit your artwork.
How to share your artwork
Share an image of your artwork via GuardianWitness, by clicking the blue “contribute” button on this page, or via the Android or iPhone app. If you don’t have a Guardian profile, you’ll need to sign up. Then, find the Share Your Art assignment and follow the instructions to share your image. If you have any problems, email us at userhelp@theguardian.com.
We’ll feature some of our favourite submissions at theguardian.com/artanddesign and on Facebook. By sending us your pictures you: a) acknowledge that you have created the pictures or have permission to submit them; and b) grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, free licence to publish your pictures as described. Copyright resides with you, and you may reuse your pictures however you wish. Read our full terms and conditions here.
Don’t worry if they don’t appear straight away – everything has to be approved before it can be “hung” in our online gallery. Tell us in the comments if there are any improvements we could make to the series.
