a collection of still-life prints by Jovian Lim taking off the genre of vanitas painting and still-life photography, a form of art that contemplate notions of transience, decay and death. Lim’s prints call to mind the passing of time, the illusion of its persistence and the fragility of that illusion.

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The objects are falling off from a pedestal, from a stable, perfect state.

But far be it for this to signal disaster.

For there is romance in this realism.

The objects chosen represent the many pleasures of life available to us.

Food,

music,

games,

love-and other life-giving occupations.

Captured at the start of their descent, they stand still, frozen in time, as if for us to contemplate the formal perfection of their failure. Which ultimately, in a fallen world is a more hopeful, and sustainable way at looking at things. In that singular moment, what should have been-perhaps our regret, and what could be-perchance our desires, are perfectly reconciled by what is.

Prints Available:

After the Fall - A Rise (1) (2013)
Photographic Print
34 x 23.5cm

After the Fall - A Rise (2) (2013)
Photographic Print
30 x 24cm

After the Fall - Fanfare (2013)
Photographic Print
39.5 x 23.5cm

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About the Artist

Jovian Lim (b. 1984) grew up in Singapore. He graduated from the School of Art, Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University with a BFA in photography.

Jovian’s photography hovers between realism and romance. Towing the line between the simple and sublime. Using commonplace material, he investigates ever more rarefied forms of expression, attempting to express that which is immutable, stripped of time, space and particularity.

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Please write to store@greyprojects.org if you have any queries regarding the prints.