{"id":3496,"date":"2025-12-15T09:08:37","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T16:08:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=3496"},"modified":"2025-12-15T09:08:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T16:08:37","slug":"affluent-genre-scenes-erupt-in-chaos-in-sabrina-bocklers-uncanny-paintings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=3496","title":{"rendered":"Affluent Genre Scenes Erupt in Chaos in Sabrina Bockler\u2019s Uncanny Paintings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bockler-1.jpg\" alt=\"Affluent Genre Scenes Erupt in Chaos in Sabrina Bockler\u2019s Uncanny Paintings\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s always something a little bit unsettling about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sabrinabockler.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sabrina Bockler<\/a>\u2019s dynamic paintings, although it can sometimes take a moment to narrow down the reason why. At first glance, a table appears sumptuously set, or a floral scene unfolds with brilliant hues. Upon further inspection, we\u2019ll notice a two-headed goose, a table of food being ravaged by cats and dogs, or the disquieting feeling you\u2019re being watched.<\/p>\n<p>Bockler combines glowy, Rococo-esque figures with elements of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/tags\/dutch-golden-age-painting\">Dutch Golden Age painting<\/a>, specifically still-lifes that incorporate tables full of flowers, dead game, and decomposing fruit. She also taps into romance, allegory, and the hunting genre, portraying dogs leaping after prey or fighting with one another over scraps.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1603\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bockler-2.jpg\" alt=\"A still-life painting by Sabrina Bockler of a table pull of peonies, vessels, fish, and fruit, with eyes peering out here and there\" class=\"wp-image-466925\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cThrough the Glass Darkly\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A sense of chaos is always present in Bockler\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/tags\/sabrina-bockler\">maximalist paintings<\/a>, but to varying degrees. \u201cThrough the Glass Darkly,\u201d for example, teeters on the edge of strangeness, depicting a seemingly calm tablescape with vessels full of wine interspersed among peonies, fruit, and fish. And yet, in the vein of traditional <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/tags\/vanitas\">vanitas<\/a> paintings, an abandoned open pomegranate suggests things are not as ideal as they seem. The plated fish stare blankly at the viewer, and mysteriously disembodied eyes peer through glasses of wine.<\/p>\n<p>In other works, like \u201cBeg, Borrow, and Steal,\u201d which is currently on view in the group exhibition <em>Symposium <\/em>at <a href=\"https:\/\/kristinhjellegjerde.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery<\/a> in West Palm Beach, \u201cdisorder\u201d only begins to describe the anarchic scene of dogs and cats in a frenzy over a table of produce, flowers, seafood, and meat. As much as we associate these lavish scenes with refinement and wealth, there is also a disquieting undercurrent that at times bubbles up to the surface in the form of unnaturalness or even pure mania.<\/p>\n<p>Bockler\u2019s work, including a few of the pieces seen below, will go on view at <a href=\"https:\/\/beerslondon.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Beers London<\/a> in the artist\u2019s solo exhibition titled <em>Impending Rapture, <\/em>which runs from January 15 to February 28. See more on Bockler\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sabrinabockler.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">website<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/sabrinabockler\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1597\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bockler-5.jpg\" alt=\"A painting by Sabrina Bockler of a table set with food and a dead goose, with dogs and cats eating the food and snarling\" class=\"wp-image-466930\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cBeg, Borrow, and Steal\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2502\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bockler-4.jpg\" alt=\"A painting by Sabrina Bockler of a dead two-headed goose hanging upside-down from a peg\" class=\"wp-image-466929\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cTrophy\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2999\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bockler-3.jpg\" alt=\"A detail of a still-life painting by Sabrina Bockler of a table pull of peonies, vessels, fish, and fruit, with eyes peering out here and there\" class=\"wp-image-466928\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Detail of \u201cThrough the Glass Darkly\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2554\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bockler-6.jpg\" alt=\"A painting by Sabrina Bockler of two hands holding a string of flowers\" class=\"wp-image-466931\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cIn Bloom\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2502\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bockler-8.jpg\" alt=\"A painting by Sabrina Bockler of florals, snakes, and other creatures\" class=\"wp-image-466934\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cDivine Meddling\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bockler-8-1.jpg\" alt=\"A detail of a painting by Sabrina Bockler of florals, snakes, and other creatures\" class=\"wp-image-466933\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Detail of \u201cDivine Meddling\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2478\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bockler-9.jpg\" alt=\"A painting by Sabrina Bockler of a hand holding two purple peonies that, next to each other, look like human eyes\" class=\"wp-image-466926\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cPlucked\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2551\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bockler-10.jpg\" alt=\"A still-life painting by Sabrina Bockler of flowers on a small table with a blue cloth\" class=\"wp-image-466927\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cLeftovers\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1998\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bockler-7.jpg\" alt=\"A painting by Sabrina Bockler of florals, snakes, and other creatures\" class=\"wp-image-466932\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cSolstice\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/members\">Colossal Member<\/a> today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2025\/12\/sabrina-bockler-still-life-genre-paintings\/\">Affluent Genre Scenes Erupt in Chaos in Sabrina Bockler\u2019s Uncanny Paintings<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/\">Colossal<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s always something a little bit unsettling about Sabrina Bockler\u2019s dynamic paintings, although it can sometimes take a moment to narrow down the reason why. At first glance, a table&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3496\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}