Trend to Collect: Contemporary Still Lifes

Artists have been painting flowers, fruits, and household objects for hundreds of years, but there’s something vibrant about contemporary still lifes.

Whether capturing potted plants or cans of food, these seven artists transform today’s odds and ends into vivid, whimsical, and mysterious works of art. To buy any of these pieces, you can click on the image to contact the gallery directly.

Fears highlights the joyfulness of everyday life, drawing attention to ordinary (yet charming) household objects, such as this bowl of “boring oranges” and a can of pie filling.

£375–650

Potted plants and clay vessels are recurrent themes for the American artist, whose large-scale prints and paintings are often inspired by his wife, the ceramicist Shio Kusaka.

£25,000–30,000

For many of his still lifes, Wackers paints eccentric collections of rocks, plants, and abstract shapes, carefully arranged on tables and shelves.

$9,000–18,000

This emerging painter fills her canvases with hot dogs, gravlax, coffee cans, and other food items filled with hidden histories.

$400–975

Slaby’s still lifes often feature a sense of nostalgia, whether it’s a bee crawling on a metal fence or a black cat lurking behind a yellow bicycle.

$100–160

Floating hands, Hermès scarves, and scalloped bowls populate these patterned prints, which offer a sense of mystery and rebellion.

$200

In these iPad paintings, Castator imagines colorful, cluttered rooms with artworks by Ed Ruscha and Édouard Manet hanging on the walls.

$1,800–3,200