Sill Life from Modernmasters:

A Still Life is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural (food, flowers, plants, rocks, or shells) or man-made (drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes, and so on). With origins in the Middle Ages and Ancient Greek/Roman art, Still Life paintings give the artist more leeway in the arrangement of design elements within a composition than do paintings of other types of subjects such as landscape or portraiture.

Still Life paintings, particularly before 1700, often contained religious and allegorical symbolism relating to the objects depicted. Some modern still life breaks the two-dimensional barrier and employs three-dimensional mixed media, and uses found objects, photography, computer graphics, as well as video and sound.

In the last three decades of the 20th century, and in the early years of the 21st century Still Life has expanded beyond the boundary of a frame. Especially in the wake of the computer age, and the rise of computer generated art and Digital art the nature and definition of still-life has changed.

Some mixed media still life work employing found objects, photography, video, and sound, and even spilling out from ceiling to floor, and filling an entire room in a gallery. Computer-generated graphics have expanded the techniques available to still life artists. With the use of the video camera, Still Life artists can even incorporate the viewer into their work.