The Unstill Still Life

Artist’s work alive with color
By Tova Navarra
June 11, 1989

What is a still life, what the French call nature morte?
Not “dead nature,” certainly, for the word “still” is as dominant as the word “life.” Both ring with images.
Despite the dictionary’s somewhat quaint definition – “small, inanimate objects, as fruits, flowers, books, etc., used as subjects for a picture” – the still lifes of Joyce Anastasia Urbanski flutter and whir. Many of her objects are large and the light enlivens them. With that in mind, are they still, or is it that we simply cannot ordinarily perceive the motion of plants blooming or dresses awaiting the warmth of a body – the inner vibrations of life?
Among Ms. Urbanski’s oils, watercolor monoprints and sculptured pottery, 36 pieces altogether, at The Gallery EKO, 319 Main St. in Allenhurst, one finds the motion and emotion in what she calls her beautiful things. Subjects of a picture, or compulsions of the artist herself?
“I can’t help but choose beautiful colors,: said the Holmdel Township artist who chose not to mention her age. “I’m not psychologically attuned to sad things or social messages. Mine are very emotional paintings, not about death or dying, but they are nostalgic, full of personal feelings and personal items. All the still life objects are all mine, which trigger an emotional reaction as I paint them from life, not photographs or drawings.”
She describes herself as “a painterly realist, but not in a photorealistic way,” especially considering that the six monoprints in the show are inanimate yet wild fruits and flowers. Wild the way Chaim Soutine’s still life, “Dead Fowl,” is wild in its terrorized downward plunge.