| Guy Diehl’s Still Life with Cezanne & MFK Fisher combines freshly picked peaches from a neighbor’s garden, still bearing bits of branch and leaf, with a volume of Cezanne’s work and Two Towns in Provence by MFK Fisher. Diehl cleverly groups authors, painters, and objects which are related in subtle ways, resulting in work which contains a sort of quiet riddle: each print is a transmission on a very particular wavelength. In Cezanne, Diehl aims his broadcast at gourmets and Provencal enthusiasts. His peaches, looking good enough to eat, are complented by the appearance of MFK Fisher, a celebrated author in culinary circles, whose prolific oeuvre includes several works examining Provencal cuisine. Diehl rounds things out with a tome on Cezanne, a painter whose work often depicted scenes from his Provencal birthplace. Diehl collaborated with Magnolia Editions director Donald Farnsworth to transform his painting into a new digital composition. The artist manipulated the Shaker table which supports the objects to give greater perspectival depth to the piece and added a subtle layer of textures drawn on mylar for an earlier series of lithographs. Ultimately, the visual and conceptual harmony of Diehl’s ingredients brings to mind the masterfully combined proportions of – what else? – a delicious meal. -Nick Stone |
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