SHIRA ZELWER ⎸
RESERVED

Six heavy, ornamented large-scale (130×130 cm) frames featuring Gobelins of still life: floral arrangements. The still life in Zelwer’s Gobelins is not the still life of luxury and affluence. These are images of simple, standard bouquets of the type sold at the local florist shop on a holiday eve and combine lily with carnation, calla lily with gerbera, anemone with rose, and add some decorative greenery. The golden frames that Zelwer duplicates (the model is hung over the piano in her parents’ home), send us to bourgeois Europe in the early 20th century, to the remnants of the grandparents’ family homes. Like the plastic chairs, Zelwer’s Gobelins are an inexpensive popular substitute for the historical oil paintings depicting spectacular flower arrangements associated with European bourgeoisie.