Window Still Life

Let us introduce this work by describing it as familiar. First and foremost, as still-life, it follows the tradition in the form by showing us a skull, as opposed to something alive, with images situated entirely within the frame, as even the pixelated flames are confined to their box. Thematically, the artist highlights the impermanence of the coder and their pay, while the flames continue to dance, the code continuing to operate. Those two dominant images sit on another element of computer familiarity, the chessboard, with its connotations of the machine creation dominating its creator.

The familiarity ends there, as the image attacks convention as it is not still. The flames are in constant motion, and there is the persistent glitch of the skull, highlighting malfunction and data manipulation. Karel invites us to look into the window, and to consider how traditional art labels, like “Still-Life” fit (or do not fit) within the realm of the digital landscape.