In Stephanie Nebbia's recent gravure etchings you can hear a pin drop.

The ambient lighting is subdued, shadows muted, and the subject - ceramic beakers, made by the artist herself - sit in a shallow shelf like recess.

The design of Nebbia's beakers are impractical as utilitarian vessels from which to drink. They are porcelain thin and conical, tapering down to a thin base. Their stability is dramatically unstable. They are made to look at, not use.

The design and materiality of the beakers is key.

It is hard not to look at these stillest of still lifes without imagining potential damage.

A passing lorry, a slammed door, or even a sneeze might be enough for these beaker(s) to topple over and crack or worse, become ceramic shards.

I'd say these gravures are are a modern, secular, version of the Vanitas still life tradition, alluding to the transience and uncertainty of life.

Like their historical forebears, they are also exquisitely and painfully beautiful.                 Steve Johnson FRSS