Artwork copyright Norman Lundin. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Still Life: Boxes, Jars, Solvent Cans, 1998

Norman Lundin
American (born 1938)

Location: Pierce College - Fort Steilacoom, Lakewood

About the Artwork

Still Life: Boxes, Jars, Solvent Cans is a realistic painting by artist Norman Lundin. The composition highlights different qualities of light and shadow. See how differently the light strikes each object. He notes, "My recent work involves subject matter that has little or no emotional association so that the viewer will bring along no emotional baggage when the work is viewed. This allows the effects of light and air to be emphasized. I believe that if I solve the formal problems in any given painting that this will open the door for expression, (the most important component,) to come through on its own."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Pierce College District.

About the Artist

Seattle-artist Norman Lundin creates still life paintings and drawings that observe light, shadow, and negative space. In his own words "Just as one cannot have something ‘long’ without having something ‘short’ for comparison, one cannot have an ‘object’ without a ‘void’. It is the void interests me. With this kind of priority I find that I must use objects that have little or no emotional association."
Lundin is Professor Emeritus of Art at the University of Washington, where he has taught since 1964. He was born in Los Angeles and raised in Chicago. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1961. He earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1963. He received a Fulbright Fellowship to study the work of artist Edvard Munch at the University of Oslo in Norway for 1963-65.