Untitled (Still Life)
Artist
Robert Kogge
(American)
Date1989
MediumGraphite on canvas
Dimensions18 × 26 in. (45.7 × 66 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Object numberUAC2752
DescriptionExemplary of his mastery of the medium of graphite, this untitled work by Robert Kogge shows several jars and miscellany on a shelf with a plug in the background. Here, without the use of color in his typical ink wash style, Kogge keeps his preference for balance in both the composition of the objects he renders and the values of gray he gives them. The objects make an almost triangular shape in their arrangement and alternate dark and light colors as the eye moves from the left to the right of the piece. Above the jars and yarn in the front and in the background, a power outlet sticks up just to the left of the front-most container, almost like a chimney would on a simplistic house silhouette. The stable image, as can be seen in the simple line of the shelf and the large bottoms of the objects, gives the image a sense of peacefulness that is only emphasized by the simple gradient of gray coloration. The scene in its monochromatic coloration gives a sense of timelessness or antiquity to a scene of simple objects. This is aided by the inclusion of a ball of yarn and tin can which are often used as symbols to evoke the past. Yet this antiquity is dated slightly by the inclusion of the power outlet on the wall, breaking the sense of timelessness in the antique sense but invoking a sense of ambiguity to last in this modern century.
Educated at Parsons School of Design in New York City in the mid 1970s, Robert Kogge is a contemporary artist working in the media of pencil and ink wash, teaching at Yard School of Art in New Jersey. His signature style, pencil marks on untreated canvas colored with thinned ink washes, he developed as a means of showing the full evolution of a work of art from sketch to finished product naturally and without unnecessary covering. His work can be found on both the Hoboken Arts Online Gallery, as well as the Artists Network online exhibition of his still lifes. His physical work is represented in the Jersey State Museum, as well as several other collections along the east coast.
Written by Alex Heath
