ROB AND NICK CARTER
Positive, Negative Painting Photograph (after JACOB de GHEYN ii Still Life with a Fritillary and Three Tulips in a Terra Cotta Vase, a Snail and Four Insects, 1600)
Screen print and lithograph on Somerset Satin Tub Sized 410gsm
42 × 29·7 cm
 
Rob and Nick Carter’s works are elegant and technically sophisticated, playfully engaging the audience in an exploration of art and cultural history. Their aesthetic journey through the age of science to the paradoxes of our contemporary civilisation has encompassed a series of works drawing on the symbolism of Dutch flower portraits painted during the Age of Enlightenment. Sometimes animated, these works look back through a long lens from the age of 3D printing and computer-generated imagery.
For the source of their print for the Portfolio, the artists have produced a cibachrome positive from a classic Dutch watercolour by one of the iconic chroniclers of the Age of Enlightenment. Famous for his early vanitas and floral still lives, the original painting by Jacob de Gheyn II features the eponymous tulip. This image is from their Transforming series, playing with Dutch Master flower paintings. It juxtaposes the technology of a later century with a nostalgic image from an age of innocence.