Christopher Broadbent's Seductive Still Lifes at Milan Design Week
Christopher Broadbent, born in London in 1936, presents his photographic still lifes at Spazio BIG Santa Marta in Milan during Design Week 2017, in the exhibition "Here today […]". Broadbent, who previously worked in advertising and cinema, now focuses exclusively on pure photography, using traditional techniques like a view camera and long exposures. He employs classical still-life conventions—orthogonal structure, chiaroscuro, and horizontal perspective planes—to evoke suspended time and vanitas themes. The works feature everyday objects such as vases, flowers, fruits, and utensils, poised between vitality and decay. Broadbent describes his method as using "the dimness of an empty room to suggest time suspended, awaiting intervention or conclusion," likening it to a poetic tercet's metric cage. No digital concessions are made; the craft of photography is explored in its painterly and philosophical dimensions.
Key facts
- Christopher Broadbent was born in London in 1936.
- The exhibition 'Here today […]' is held at Spazio BIG Santa Marta in Milan.
- The exhibition coincides with Milan Design Week 2017.
- Broadbent uses traditional photographic techniques including a view camera and long exposures.
- He previously worked in advertising and cinema before dedicating himself to pure photography.
- His still lifes employ classical genres and techniques from the 17th and 18th centuries.
- The works feature objects like vases, flowers, fruits, and utensils.
- Broadbent describes his approach as using dim empty rooms to suggest suspended time.
Entities
Artists
- Christopher Broadbent
Institutions
- Spazio BIG Santa Marta
Locations
- Milan
- Italy
- London
- United Kingdom