To 17th Century merchants of the Dutch Golden Century, collecting luxury items and utensils to show off their wealth and lifestyle was a competition. They reveled in exotic animals and shells from the East Indies, priceless glassware from Venice, porcelain from China, silver and gold from Antwerp. To immortalize their high standard of living they commissioned famous Dutch still life painters, who captured the beautiful natural materials in their own special way.
Plastic, unfortunately, is more non-perishable than the memorabilia of the Golden Age. Today, prosperity produces these plastic items, which will remain on this earth almost permanently, thus creating an enormous environmental problem. This threatens both humans as well as animals alike. One can buy almost everything one likes in plastic. This inspired Richard Kuiper to produce these still lifes.
At first sight they look like the Dutch old master paintings, but at second glance you discover that the tablecloth is made of a plastic bin liner, goblets are made of athlete’s plastic sports drink bottle. In his latest works he created the flowers completely himself, using plastic spoons and forks. Richard Kuiper sees the dichotomy in his work: on the one hand he admires the material, the invention of the everlasting. But on the other, his compositions serve as a warning, and he hopes to use his photos to show how we have gone overboard with our extensive use of plastic.
