Inbox

Inspired by the old masters, but far from traditional, fine artist Chris Kettle has developed what he calls New Still Life: painting familiar objects in unexpected arrangements, these works are a visual embodiment of the uncanny.

Inbox is Kettles take on the tradition of the diptych: a pair of images, created to be exhibited together. Here, Kettle fuses contemporary themes with historical imagery through a modern digital approach. On the right panel, No New Messages—the empty slogan of the inbox refresh—hovers in cursive script between a pewter grail and a golden halo; on the left, a digital rose fills the blank space of the virtual void. Around the images computer icons—from CMYK charts to signal strength indicators—are substituted for traditional religious icons, for a unique visualisation of contemporary cultures and their digitised iconographies.