Reaction to The Implications of Still Life

"In order to assess the still life within the critical context of contemporary art we shall need to strip it down to the bare elements that run throughout its history. Once you have taken away any cultural or time based elements, the core of the still life that is left is the concept of a collection of objects that serve no purpose in themselves, but later have a process done to them, to make it art. Other than this basic construct, I will split the still life into its two most widely used treatments, the symbolic method (vanitas), and the abstract method (Cézanne)." 

This quote instantly caught my attention. Usually when one thinks of a still life, they think of objects, realism and accuracy. Though in most cases they are very important qualities of a still life, they are not the only qualities. Symbolism and/or abstraction ( the artist's style) give the observation life and meaning. The example below is one of Cézanne's still lives. Though it is very naturalistic and rendered, there is still a level of abstraction and personal style present in te piece.