Objects of a traditional living space are placed against the backdrop of a cliffside. The desk is closest to the edge, and the most fragmented, with only one standing leg remaining. Despite the disarray of the table, a white tablecloth, pitcher, and vase are placed carefully over top. A chunk of the earth intersects with the chair itself. As the title suggests the seat is the “source” of flowing water, streaming down from the chair, and dripping down from the ridge. A purple hose twists around the chair, tightly secured by a piece of rope on the upper right side. Is the hose the “source” of water, or is there another imperceptible origin point?
These items have been removed from their original context and set within the dramatic backdrop of landscape and sky, thus creating a sense of drama and theatre. The typical still life and living space has associations of family and custom. What happens when home and family life are upended?
There is light on the horizon, an indication that there is perhaps repair in store for these objects of the past. In many of his works within the Unstill Life series, Bak is inspired by Dutch paintings, mainly from the 17th century which depicts a “universal landscape.” There is a certain peace to the universality of the natural environment. Within Bak’s world nature is neutral—it is human-kind that abuses nature, as well as one another. The chair’s integration with the cliffside itself suggests a separation from human destruction. A new narrative is being constructed, one which looks to new and unexpected sources for hope and survival.
Lilly Harvey (Guest writer)
BAK a Day, August 5, 2023
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A precarious position for the two intact Still Life objects. And of course, the table that barely exists on the tip of the cliff protruding into the chasm.
The chair is filled with turf that has liquefied and is pooled as if it is candle wax. Uninhabitable for sure!
How does such an image even occur? The distant landscape of mountains is almost beautiful.
Contradictions abound.
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