Anthony Droege

The simple still life remains an artist's greatest challenge. Some achieve greatness with the concept while others strive for a lifetime to bring inanimate objects to life on canvas.

Anthony Droege is one artist who achieves - with consummate skill - breathtaking concepts and striking colors in his exciting and provocative still-life canvases.

A professor of art at a Midwestern University, Mr. Droege's paintings pulse with color, pattern and rhythm. The collection of objects, usually symmetrical arrangements of seashells, urns, antique serving pieces and other miscellaneous and intriguing treasures set against vivid patterns do not just sit there. His objects appear to breathe, to float as though through space, defying physical limits.

The resurgence of interest in still life is primarily because such a gifted artist as Anthony Droege is wakening the somehow dormant genre.

"I'm not into recreating reality. I want the process of animating to be exciting for me. If I were just to do a good job of mimicking what's in front of me, it would be a factory job."

Anthony Droege is an artist who won't hesitate to break the rules, "when I'm most successful, the objects begin to create a sense of mystery. They suggest another quality of labeling."

Always interested in the relationships between objects and their environment, this is one artist who defies rules and frequently disregards logic when searching for the right colors and the right but unusual relationship of one article to another.