Tara Lewis and Teddy Benfield both expand the boundaries of still life by rethinking how objects carry meaning in contemporary life, though they approach this from distinct angles. Benfield’s work explores the shifting relationship between interior and exterior spaces in a post-pandemic world, using familiar objects—houseplants, lawn chairs, blueprints, and everyday detritus—to blur distinctions between private and public, domestic and environmental. His paintings situate still life within a broader sense of place, particularly through New England regionalism. In contrast, Lewis focuses on the cultural and psychological weight of objects, particularly books, transforming them into “portraits” by adorning them with satin bows that disrupt their graphic design and symbolic authority. This juxtaposition creates tension between surface and content, inviting viewers to reconsider the book not as a vessel of narrative but as a cultural artifact shaped by identity, memory, and design. Together, their practices challenge traditional still life by emphasizing perception, context, and the evolving meanings we assign to the objects around us.