Just watched the BBC4 programme 'What do artists do during the day' which gave a fascinating insight into how Tom Brown works. He was not a photographer I knew much about and this may well be due to the fact that he has only recently been 'recognised' by the photographic world despite more than 30 years in the business. He himself seemed puzzled by the interest.
The programme followed him around and what we saw was a man almost totally obsessed by his activity. He would seem to spend virtually all of his time following his instincts - the instincts being based on many years experience and a deep knowledge, through familiarity, of what he shoots. There is an honesty about the presentation and there is a diffidence about his approach to those he is photographing that is both charming and at the same time revealing of an underlying uncertainty about his acceptability. The results were images that were powerful and yet of ordinary people (not celebrities) and daily life. He talks of capturing the 'spirit' of what he sees and in all that we see he is very successful in achieving his aims.
Although being described as landscape photographer he recognises in the programme that this may not be the case. Based on what we saw I would describe him as a 'street photographer' in the sense that he is out and about and shoots people and their surroundings. Many of his shown landscapes included people.
He talks of the struggle to survive as a photographer and it is here that we see the obsessive side of his nature. There is a commitment to his task that goes beyond reason for any ordinary man who tries to balance the demands of the various elements of his life. He talks of the financial problems he faced telling us that some years he made a loss. Clearly he is driven by his need to be a photographer. Although throughout the programme he was using digital cameras he talked of his days as a film photographer telling us that on a normal day he would shoot 3 or 4 rolls of film but on some days as many as 10 films. Film was expensive and there were also the development costs. It would appear that he did not develop or process his films.
A fascinating programme that gave us a glimpse into the live of a man for whom recognition has come late. One can only admire his tenacity and belief.
Thursday, 27 February 2014
Saturday, 15 February 2014
David Bailey's Stardust
Just watched the Sky Arts programme on Bailey's exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. A disappointing programme with the presenter feeling the need to explain everything away even to the extent of interpreting some of the images to Bailey himself. In fact the programme was largely 'talking heads' rather than allowing Bailey's work to speak for itself. I finally decided that the best way to proceed was to mute the sound and use the fast forward controls to concentrate on the images.
I will plan an actual visit at some time in the near future so that I can see things for myself.
I will plan an actual visit at some time in the near future so that I can see things for myself.
Sunday, 9 February 2014
Visit to Bradford - National Media Museum and impressions gallery
Was in the area having dropped off my work for Assessment for the Course Photography3 - Your own Portfolio. I decided to visit the National Media Museum where there were two exhibitions and also visit the impressions gallery (part of the City Library) where I knew there was also an exhibition.
"Copper Horses" Chris Harrison (National Media Museum - 15 Nov 2013 - 9th Feb 2014)
Chris Harrison was the 16th Bradford Fellow and the exhibition marks the end of his tenure of that post. Established in 1985 the Fellowship is a partnership between the National Media Museum, Bradford College and the University of Bradford. In this exhibition Harrison reflects "upon identity, class, British industry and the photographer's relationship with his dad." (extract from entry in the National Media Museums' web site - www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk).
The exhibition is broadly in two parts - a series of photographs of engineered parts and associated tools and oversized prints of Harrison's father gazing out to sea. However it would be wrong to think of them as separate entities because the two together give us a powerful insight into the nature of the relationship between father and son as seen from the viewpoint of the son. We are told that when Harrison was a boy "he believed that his father was a deep sea diver who had adventures every day. In reality, his dad worked in a factory as a precision engineer. By the time Chris had grown up he realised his father wasn't an adventurer. Instead, like many others, he worked hard to provide for his family in a difficult, skilled and often underappreciated (sic)job." One cannot help feeling that there is a lingering sense of disappointment,on the part of the son, that the father was not the hero he had created in his mind as a young child.
Many of the images were accompanied by a hand written caption that usually started with the words - "me Dad" - as though there was a need in the author to confirm and re-confirm the nature of the relationship. It was, for me, difficult to shake this image and I found myself interpreting what I saw solely in the terms of the message that we were supposed to receive. The majority of the 'engineering' images were shot against what seemed to be an oily rag and whilst this may have been the intention the result was to take away, from the photographed objects, the sense of creation of precision items by a highly skilled worker. The other main background was what appeared to be a timber wall scarred and worn by time and marked by apparently random paint marks that again detracted, in some way, from the skills and pride that were so much part of the main subject of the photograph.
It is of significance that the written message that presumably was designed to guide our thinking distorted the visual impact of the images whilst, at the same time, the images in some way denied or at least detracted from the written message. It may be the case that this was Harrison's intention; to force the viewer to resolve the ambiguities between the written word and what was being seen.
The over-sized images of his father were, presumably, taken within a short space of time as the figure barely moves and it was only by closely examining the changes in head and hand positions that one could detect that they were not all the same picture. The most striking feature was the fact that the father had his back to the camera and there was a complete lack of 'intimacy' between the photographer and the subject. The person pictured could have been anyone. I came to these images as the final part of my tour of the exhibition so my responses were already conditioned by what had gone before. I found it impossible to shake the idea that there was a gap between the reality we were being shown, and asked to accept, and the message that came across on viewing all the images.
It is a dangerous road to travel when one exposes to the world at large the nature of a relationship particularly between members of the same family. One has to acknowledge the bravery of Harrison's attempt and especially in such a public way. It is almost certain that the message the photographer wishes to relay will become distorted through the lens of each individual's personal history. I have little doubt that those reading this blog will wonder about my relationship with my father!
"Open for Business" 9 Magnum Photographers (National Media Museum 31st Jan - 5th May 2014)
We are told on the National Museum web-site (www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk) that the exhibition is " the story of contemporary British manufacturing and industry told through the lens of 9 Magnum photographers: Jonas Bendiksen, Stuart Franklin, Bruce Gilden, David Hurn, Peter Marlow, Martin Parr, Mark Power, Chris Steele-Perkins and Alessandra Sanguinetti. They have photographed over 100 workplaces from traditional, handmade crafts to modern, intelligent automation; from foundries and assembly lines to research laboratories and high tech cleanrooms, showing an economic sector of extraordinary resilience and diversity." The question to ask then is - Does it achieve its aim?
In a very real sense the task was impossible. Although the photographers visited over 100 workplaces not all of these were represented in the exhibition and the places visited are but a miniscule part of the vast and complex manufacturing industry in Great Britain. We also have to acknowledge that what we are shown is the product of the photographers selection of subject matter and whoever made the final choice. There is a strong tendency amongst curators and others to set out on a project that has no chance of succeeding, no matter how talented the photographers, and then in the blurb that accompanies the work trying to justify in grandiose terms the content of the exhibition.
Having said that the quality of the individual images and the impact they make is well worth the trip. As always what one sees as being the best part is down to one's own past and set of norms. In my case the 'best' picture was the close in shot of the work on the Aircraft Carrier. The sheer size of this boat is brought home when one 'sees' the solitary figure in white overalls and safety helmet that is dwarfed by all around it. It could also be argued that the building of a Carrier at enormous cost that is highly unlikely to have to be used in anger and that could have been built for far less cost in a foreign shipyard sums up the approach of those with the purse strings to how we invest in our dying industries.
A close runner up was the photograph of the Pelamis wave machine. A dramatic shot that needs a caption to make sense of. Here the viewer is given few clues as to the nature of the beast in the image and could have been a submarine surfacing. Once more we can see the image as a reflection of the British approach to the development of new technology which ebbs and flows like the tides that drive this machine. However it is necessary to have some understanding of the politics of such decisions and their history to make sense of what is being shown. On their own few if any photographs convey a clear and unambiguous message and the photographer and the curator have to assume a level of knowledge amongst their clientele for images to make sense within the context of the overall purpose of the project.
"Day Dreaming About The Good Times" Paul Reas (impressions gallery Bradford 10th Dec 2013 - 8 Mar 2014)
The exhibition is described as the first major retrospective of work by the photographer who is stated to be in the information sheet available at the exhibition as one of the most significant photographers to emerge from the new wave of British colour documentary of the mid-1980's. The title is also the title of one of Reas' photographs which he took in Newport showing female workers in a factory making components for computers.
The 70 images on show include part of his series called "The Valleys Project", work undertaken for major manufacturers such as Volkswagen and assignments for national magazines. Reas tells us that he never set anything up and all the images were taken as the event was happening. I found the whole exhibition fascinating not only because of the quality of the work but also I was able to relate to many of the images being shown. Often I find that my response to an exhibition is dependent upon how much of the content has been, in some way, part of my life albeit at several times removed. I found this particularly true when visiting an exhibition where the the work of Don McCullin was on show. McCullin was a war photo-journalist who visited most of the worlds trouble spots during his long career. In the case of Reas' work although I hardly know Bradford I recognised the society and milieu in which the action took place.
Although this exhibition was an 'add-on', in the sense that I came across a mention of it purely by accident, it was for me the best of the day. I would recommend it to anyone.
"Copper Horses" Chris Harrison (National Media Museum - 15 Nov 2013 - 9th Feb 2014)
Chris Harrison was the 16th Bradford Fellow and the exhibition marks the end of his tenure of that post. Established in 1985 the Fellowship is a partnership between the National Media Museum, Bradford College and the University of Bradford. In this exhibition Harrison reflects "upon identity, class, British industry and the photographer's relationship with his dad." (extract from entry in the National Media Museums' web site - www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk).
The exhibition is broadly in two parts - a series of photographs of engineered parts and associated tools and oversized prints of Harrison's father gazing out to sea. However it would be wrong to think of them as separate entities because the two together give us a powerful insight into the nature of the relationship between father and son as seen from the viewpoint of the son. We are told that when Harrison was a boy "he believed that his father was a deep sea diver who had adventures every day. In reality, his dad worked in a factory as a precision engineer. By the time Chris had grown up he realised his father wasn't an adventurer. Instead, like many others, he worked hard to provide for his family in a difficult, skilled and often underappreciated (sic)job." One cannot help feeling that there is a lingering sense of disappointment,on the part of the son, that the father was not the hero he had created in his mind as a young child.
Many of the images were accompanied by a hand written caption that usually started with the words - "me Dad" - as though there was a need in the author to confirm and re-confirm the nature of the relationship. It was, for me, difficult to shake this image and I found myself interpreting what I saw solely in the terms of the message that we were supposed to receive. The majority of the 'engineering' images were shot against what seemed to be an oily rag and whilst this may have been the intention the result was to take away, from the photographed objects, the sense of creation of precision items by a highly skilled worker. The other main background was what appeared to be a timber wall scarred and worn by time and marked by apparently random paint marks that again detracted, in some way, from the skills and pride that were so much part of the main subject of the photograph.
It is of significance that the written message that presumably was designed to guide our thinking distorted the visual impact of the images whilst, at the same time, the images in some way denied or at least detracted from the written message. It may be the case that this was Harrison's intention; to force the viewer to resolve the ambiguities between the written word and what was being seen.
The over-sized images of his father were, presumably, taken within a short space of time as the figure barely moves and it was only by closely examining the changes in head and hand positions that one could detect that they were not all the same picture. The most striking feature was the fact that the father had his back to the camera and there was a complete lack of 'intimacy' between the photographer and the subject. The person pictured could have been anyone. I came to these images as the final part of my tour of the exhibition so my responses were already conditioned by what had gone before. I found it impossible to shake the idea that there was a gap between the reality we were being shown, and asked to accept, and the message that came across on viewing all the images.
It is a dangerous road to travel when one exposes to the world at large the nature of a relationship particularly between members of the same family. One has to acknowledge the bravery of Harrison's attempt and especially in such a public way. It is almost certain that the message the photographer wishes to relay will become distorted through the lens of each individual's personal history. I have little doubt that those reading this blog will wonder about my relationship with my father!
"Open for Business" 9 Magnum Photographers (National Media Museum 31st Jan - 5th May 2014)
We are told on the National Museum web-site (www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk) that the exhibition is " the story of contemporary British manufacturing and industry told through the lens of 9 Magnum photographers: Jonas Bendiksen, Stuart Franklin, Bruce Gilden, David Hurn, Peter Marlow, Martin Parr, Mark Power, Chris Steele-Perkins and Alessandra Sanguinetti. They have photographed over 100 workplaces from traditional, handmade crafts to modern, intelligent automation; from foundries and assembly lines to research laboratories and high tech cleanrooms, showing an economic sector of extraordinary resilience and diversity." The question to ask then is - Does it achieve its aim?
In a very real sense the task was impossible. Although the photographers visited over 100 workplaces not all of these were represented in the exhibition and the places visited are but a miniscule part of the vast and complex manufacturing industry in Great Britain. We also have to acknowledge that what we are shown is the product of the photographers selection of subject matter and whoever made the final choice. There is a strong tendency amongst curators and others to set out on a project that has no chance of succeeding, no matter how talented the photographers, and then in the blurb that accompanies the work trying to justify in grandiose terms the content of the exhibition.
Having said that the quality of the individual images and the impact they make is well worth the trip. As always what one sees as being the best part is down to one's own past and set of norms. In my case the 'best' picture was the close in shot of the work on the Aircraft Carrier. The sheer size of this boat is brought home when one 'sees' the solitary figure in white overalls and safety helmet that is dwarfed by all around it. It could also be argued that the building of a Carrier at enormous cost that is highly unlikely to have to be used in anger and that could have been built for far less cost in a foreign shipyard sums up the approach of those with the purse strings to how we invest in our dying industries.
A close runner up was the photograph of the Pelamis wave machine. A dramatic shot that needs a caption to make sense of. Here the viewer is given few clues as to the nature of the beast in the image and could have been a submarine surfacing. Once more we can see the image as a reflection of the British approach to the development of new technology which ebbs and flows like the tides that drive this machine. However it is necessary to have some understanding of the politics of such decisions and their history to make sense of what is being shown. On their own few if any photographs convey a clear and unambiguous message and the photographer and the curator have to assume a level of knowledge amongst their clientele for images to make sense within the context of the overall purpose of the project.
"Day Dreaming About The Good Times" Paul Reas (impressions gallery Bradford 10th Dec 2013 - 8 Mar 2014)
The exhibition is described as the first major retrospective of work by the photographer who is stated to be in the information sheet available at the exhibition as one of the most significant photographers to emerge from the new wave of British colour documentary of the mid-1980's. The title is also the title of one of Reas' photographs which he took in Newport showing female workers in a factory making components for computers.
The 70 images on show include part of his series called "The Valleys Project", work undertaken for major manufacturers such as Volkswagen and assignments for national magazines. Reas tells us that he never set anything up and all the images were taken as the event was happening. I found the whole exhibition fascinating not only because of the quality of the work but also I was able to relate to many of the images being shown. Often I find that my response to an exhibition is dependent upon how much of the content has been, in some way, part of my life albeit at several times removed. I found this particularly true when visiting an exhibition where the the work of Don McCullin was on show. McCullin was a war photo-journalist who visited most of the worlds trouble spots during his long career. In the case of Reas' work although I hardly know Bradford I recognised the society and milieu in which the action took place.
Although this exhibition was an 'add-on', in the sense that I came across a mention of it purely by accident, it was for me the best of the day. I would recommend it to anyone.
Wednesday, 22 January 2014
On the Exhibition Trail
Spent yesterday in London visiting four photographic exhibitions that were of interest to me.
The Photographers Gallery 16 -18 Ramilles Street London
This is the first time that I had visited this Gallery. It offers five floors of activity/exhibition space that is accessible by lift. Although, as always, I found the lighting of the images poor (in one room there is a large window at one end that, at the time I was there, provided a great deal of light that meant at the opposite end of the room the images were almost invisible) so that there was a need to constantly shift ones position to avoid becoming the image oneself. This was a particular problem with David Lynch's work because of large areas of blocked shadows within his work. Why this problem cannot be solved beats me although, as I report later, the exhibition at the Science Museum did not have the problem because of careful lighting and offering the prints unglazed.
There were three exhibitions to see with the work of David Lynch,William S Burroughs and Andy Warhol on show.
David Lynch: The Factory Photographs.
To quote from the handout Lynch is reported to have said:"I love industry. Pipes. I love fluid and smoke. I love man-made things. I like to see people hard at work, and I like to see sludge and man made waste." Such an approach is clear from the images that were chosen which are dark and mediative almost to the point where the image is little more than a contrast between light and dark. Detail in the shadow was frequently indiscernible and one was left wondering what was hidden adding to the enigmatic feel of the work. Not all of the images worked for me and I was left with the feeling that many of the images failed to meet the criteria suggested by Lynch's desires.
Having said that there were a number that were outstanding and gripped my attention. This happened when some detail, perhaps small and possibly unintended by the photographer, piqued my interest and offered me a mystery that I wished to resolve, even though I knew that it was not capable of resolution. It is often the case that we place our own interpretation on an image to provide us with a coherent picture of what we are seeing and this happens most often when the actual image fails to provide us with sufficient information, of itself, to allow us the certainty of knowing. With some images I wondered what I would have made of them if there had been no title to the exhibition or one less definite in pre-conditioning thinking.
The question always is - Did I get anything from the exhibition?. Of course there is always something that impacts your thinking and will effect your future approach to photography so the simple answer is "Yes" but on the larger scale it is not a style that works for me and it is not one that I would consciously pursue.
The exhibition was accompanied by a sound installation created by the photographer. I was conscious of it only as an extraneous noise that was mildly irritating as though I was hearing something in another room that was only just audible and I could not decide whether I wanted someone to increase the sound level or use the 'off' switch.
Taking Shots: The Photography of William S. Burroughs.
The last thing that springs to mind when seeing the name "William S. Burroughs" is photography. His addiction to heroin and firearms, his wild man image and his literary accomplishments are the things that come immediately to mind. In this exhibition we are offered an insight into another facet of this multi-faceted character. An insight that also provides some clues to the underlying personality that made up this larger than life character.
The first thing that has to be said that if one is expecting to see outstanding photography, beautifully printed and presented only disappointment will ensue. Burroughs used drug stores for the development if his images and this is evident in the overall quality. Not for him the skills of the darkroom technician who strives to make the best possible image but a commitment to the mechanistic processes of the drugstore that produced images lacking in contrast or definition. This approach would suggest that he did not care very much for the work he had done and that once taken the image was 'lost' to him. There was little care taken of the photograph once developed and his extensive 'collection' - if that word can be used for something that really was little more than a store of images that had survived albeit scratched, creased or torn. Yet in amongst all this apparent detritus we find glimpses of a caring, probably disappointed lover/person who had found a way of expressing his hidden persona if only for a brief moment of time.
One of the most moving series of a story told in linking images is the one entitled "What was, What Isn't". Starting with a shot of an empty bed that still shows signs of occupation it finishes with the bed fully made up and the viewer left wondering about the transient nature of those precious moments that can never be repeated and which we deny by removing any trace of their occurrence.
Also evident is Burroughs use of the collage where he chops and rearranges the parts of a number of photographs in an attempt to create new meaning. Whether he is successful in these attempts is impossible for the new viewer to decide because the resultant collage image is not grounded in a world that is understandable to anyone other than Burroughs whose thoughts at the time are unknown to us.
Perhaps with this work more than most the overall impression is structured by the awareness of the chaotic lifestyle of Burroughs. Is it being too fanciful to suggest that in photography and the ease with which it can be altered in so many ways to create a different reality, Burroughs attempted to make sense of a life that he no longer understood or could grasp as a whole. Perhaps this is the aim of many photographers where, through our photography, we create a world that exists only in our imagination or is so transient as to have no recognisable existence other than in the photograph.
Andy Warhol
I am not a lover of Warhol's work so was not expecting a great deal from the exhibition of his photographs. It was, therefore, a pleasant surprise to discover that I was totally wrong in my preconceptions. They were very good both as a set and as individual pieces. The quality was very high and the subject matter well presented. I found myself lingering over most of the images and learning a great deal from the way they were presented. Most of Warhol's photography has not been shown which, given the quality of this exhibition, is a shame. It is said that his interest in phtography arose from his purchase of a small compact camera in the 1970's that he had with him at all times. He was a recorder of almost everything that he saw but his eye as an artist made the choices he made outstanding. Of the three photographers that I saw at the Photographers Gallery Warhol's was the outstanding exhibition for me.
The Science Museum Exhibition Road London
Based in the Media Space at the Science Museum this exhibition was well thought out and equally importantly well presented. The simple structure surrounding and supporting the prints complemented the images and the lighting was such that the viewer was able to avoid the dance of defeat usually experienced as one struggles to avoid the glare and reflections so common in most venues.
'Only in England' - Photographs by Tony Ray-Jones and Martin Parr
Tony Ray-Jones was little known at the time of his death in 1972 at the age of 30. There had been so little time for him to make an impact on the photographic world and one wonders what would have happened had he lived a normal span of three score years and ten. Although Ray-Jones would not know he had a lasting impact upon a young photography student at Manchester Polytechnic in 1971 - Martin Parr. This exhibition combined the work of the two that is so close in style and content that it was difficult to know who was the author of a particular image before looking at the adjacent caption.
The viewer is presented with a view of the ordinary (meaning non-celebrity status) people of Britain (predominantly Yorkshire) of the late 1960's. Beach and Chapel scenes dominate so that we are offered the British both relaxing on their annual holiday at the seaside and at their formal best as they worship at their Chapel. The quality and printing of the images is very high but their attraction lies in the story each tells and the cumulative effect as one walks round and ponders the exhibition. Both photographers manage to offer a humorous look at the British way of life but there is no sense of an underlying mockery. The comic is combined with the serious to offer us a balanced view of life as experienced by the people shown.
One of the best exhibition I have attended to date.
There is probably a reason for my very positive response and that is that I lived and worked in Yorkshire during this time so that the photographs on the stands bore a remarkable similarity to images in family albums (content if not quality). I could readily identify with the people shown and could relate the m to people that I knew. Time and again it was possible to say that "I knew someone who dressed/behaved like that" and the characters were similar to those that crowded the beaches that I knew and loved. I have very little doubt that we respond more readily to images that resonate with us in a personal way because they arouse emotions that still lie within us.
National Portrait Gallery Orange Street London
Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2013
Having visited the 21012 version I had told myself that I would not visit such an exhibition again because of the crowded facilities and the general standard of the work shown. However as I was in London anyway to see the other exhibitions mentioned in this blog I thought - Why not? Frankly I wished I had stuck with my original thought. For a National Institution the presentation of this major exhibition is appalling placed as it is in a small area that is woefully inadequate as though the Gallery wishes to suggest that it the exhibition is there under sufferance. When I visited it was almost impossible to see clearly any of the Prints because of the number of people in the space available far exceeded the capacity of the room so that any attempt to stand back from the large prints to be able to appreciate the work was doomed by the rush of people into the space just left that seemed, always to include the pixel sniffer who seems to believe that the best way to see an image is to wipe one's nose on the surface.
I persevered and in the brief glimpses I got I was surprised by the overall boring nature of the images on display. Almost all seemed to place the subject dead centre giving the impression of a posed image with all the attendant stiffness and sense of unreality. It was difficult to find any example of good portraiture in the whole collection. I expect to disagree with the choices for the awards because we are all different in what presses our buttons but normally I can see the reason why they were chosen. Unfortunately I could count on the fingers (excluding the thumb) the images that were worth a second glance.
Never again - but then I said that last year!
National Theatre South Bank London
Take a View - Landscape Photographer of the Year 2013
An exhibition that I enjoy visiting. The venue is excellent and the standard of the exhibits high. Even though this was my last visit at the end of quite a long day during which I seemed to have been walking and standing for ever it was a pleasure to be there. This year the overall standard was very high and the interpretation of the theme thoughtful and wide ranging. Some of the images were stunning and virtually all worth a longer period of study. It was a real pleasure to see so many really good images in one space and I am glad I was not one of the judges.
The site choice, techniques and approaches varied enough to be thought provoking and landscape photography is the genre that most excites me in my own photography. I can only stand back in admiration for some of the work and only hope that one day I can be as good. Who knows I may even submit work one day.
General Summation
It does not take a genius to realise that I have a bee in my bonnet about the way that photographic works are presented. Some curators and gallery owners seem to care little about how the images are shown and yet as the Science Museum and the National Theatre have shown it is not beyond the wit of man to create an atmosphere in which the viewer can both see and enjoy the works on show.
As one would expect there were disappointments and positive surprises throughout the day in the images that I saw but overall it was a day I thoroughly enjoyed despite the blistered foot and the stiff legs. Some images on their own made the journey worthwhile and the immediate impact was to strengthen my commitment to photography. As always the proof of the pudding lies in the long term benefits that I will only come to know as I continue my journey of exploration and learning.
The Photographers Gallery 16 -18 Ramilles Street London
This is the first time that I had visited this Gallery. It offers five floors of activity/exhibition space that is accessible by lift. Although, as always, I found the lighting of the images poor (in one room there is a large window at one end that, at the time I was there, provided a great deal of light that meant at the opposite end of the room the images were almost invisible) so that there was a need to constantly shift ones position to avoid becoming the image oneself. This was a particular problem with David Lynch's work because of large areas of blocked shadows within his work. Why this problem cannot be solved beats me although, as I report later, the exhibition at the Science Museum did not have the problem because of careful lighting and offering the prints unglazed.
There were three exhibitions to see with the work of David Lynch,William S Burroughs and Andy Warhol on show.
David Lynch: The Factory Photographs.
To quote from the handout Lynch is reported to have said:"I love industry. Pipes. I love fluid and smoke. I love man-made things. I like to see people hard at work, and I like to see sludge and man made waste." Such an approach is clear from the images that were chosen which are dark and mediative almost to the point where the image is little more than a contrast between light and dark. Detail in the shadow was frequently indiscernible and one was left wondering what was hidden adding to the enigmatic feel of the work. Not all of the images worked for me and I was left with the feeling that many of the images failed to meet the criteria suggested by Lynch's desires.
Having said that there were a number that were outstanding and gripped my attention. This happened when some detail, perhaps small and possibly unintended by the photographer, piqued my interest and offered me a mystery that I wished to resolve, even though I knew that it was not capable of resolution. It is often the case that we place our own interpretation on an image to provide us with a coherent picture of what we are seeing and this happens most often when the actual image fails to provide us with sufficient information, of itself, to allow us the certainty of knowing. With some images I wondered what I would have made of them if there had been no title to the exhibition or one less definite in pre-conditioning thinking.
The question always is - Did I get anything from the exhibition?. Of course there is always something that impacts your thinking and will effect your future approach to photography so the simple answer is "Yes" but on the larger scale it is not a style that works for me and it is not one that I would consciously pursue.
The exhibition was accompanied by a sound installation created by the photographer. I was conscious of it only as an extraneous noise that was mildly irritating as though I was hearing something in another room that was only just audible and I could not decide whether I wanted someone to increase the sound level or use the 'off' switch.
Taking Shots: The Photography of William S. Burroughs.
The last thing that springs to mind when seeing the name "William S. Burroughs" is photography. His addiction to heroin and firearms, his wild man image and his literary accomplishments are the things that come immediately to mind. In this exhibition we are offered an insight into another facet of this multi-faceted character. An insight that also provides some clues to the underlying personality that made up this larger than life character.
The first thing that has to be said that if one is expecting to see outstanding photography, beautifully printed and presented only disappointment will ensue. Burroughs used drug stores for the development if his images and this is evident in the overall quality. Not for him the skills of the darkroom technician who strives to make the best possible image but a commitment to the mechanistic processes of the drugstore that produced images lacking in contrast or definition. This approach would suggest that he did not care very much for the work he had done and that once taken the image was 'lost' to him. There was little care taken of the photograph once developed and his extensive 'collection' - if that word can be used for something that really was little more than a store of images that had survived albeit scratched, creased or torn. Yet in amongst all this apparent detritus we find glimpses of a caring, probably disappointed lover/person who had found a way of expressing his hidden persona if only for a brief moment of time.
One of the most moving series of a story told in linking images is the one entitled "What was, What Isn't". Starting with a shot of an empty bed that still shows signs of occupation it finishes with the bed fully made up and the viewer left wondering about the transient nature of those precious moments that can never be repeated and which we deny by removing any trace of their occurrence.
Also evident is Burroughs use of the collage where he chops and rearranges the parts of a number of photographs in an attempt to create new meaning. Whether he is successful in these attempts is impossible for the new viewer to decide because the resultant collage image is not grounded in a world that is understandable to anyone other than Burroughs whose thoughts at the time are unknown to us.
Perhaps with this work more than most the overall impression is structured by the awareness of the chaotic lifestyle of Burroughs. Is it being too fanciful to suggest that in photography and the ease with which it can be altered in so many ways to create a different reality, Burroughs attempted to make sense of a life that he no longer understood or could grasp as a whole. Perhaps this is the aim of many photographers where, through our photography, we create a world that exists only in our imagination or is so transient as to have no recognisable existence other than in the photograph.
Andy Warhol
I am not a lover of Warhol's work so was not expecting a great deal from the exhibition of his photographs. It was, therefore, a pleasant surprise to discover that I was totally wrong in my preconceptions. They were very good both as a set and as individual pieces. The quality was very high and the subject matter well presented. I found myself lingering over most of the images and learning a great deal from the way they were presented. Most of Warhol's photography has not been shown which, given the quality of this exhibition, is a shame. It is said that his interest in phtography arose from his purchase of a small compact camera in the 1970's that he had with him at all times. He was a recorder of almost everything that he saw but his eye as an artist made the choices he made outstanding. Of the three photographers that I saw at the Photographers Gallery Warhol's was the outstanding exhibition for me.
The Science Museum Exhibition Road London
Based in the Media Space at the Science Museum this exhibition was well thought out and equally importantly well presented. The simple structure surrounding and supporting the prints complemented the images and the lighting was such that the viewer was able to avoid the dance of defeat usually experienced as one struggles to avoid the glare and reflections so common in most venues.
'Only in England' - Photographs by Tony Ray-Jones and Martin Parr
Tony Ray-Jones was little known at the time of his death in 1972 at the age of 30. There had been so little time for him to make an impact on the photographic world and one wonders what would have happened had he lived a normal span of three score years and ten. Although Ray-Jones would not know he had a lasting impact upon a young photography student at Manchester Polytechnic in 1971 - Martin Parr. This exhibition combined the work of the two that is so close in style and content that it was difficult to know who was the author of a particular image before looking at the adjacent caption.
The viewer is presented with a view of the ordinary (meaning non-celebrity status) people of Britain (predominantly Yorkshire) of the late 1960's. Beach and Chapel scenes dominate so that we are offered the British both relaxing on their annual holiday at the seaside and at their formal best as they worship at their Chapel. The quality and printing of the images is very high but their attraction lies in the story each tells and the cumulative effect as one walks round and ponders the exhibition. Both photographers manage to offer a humorous look at the British way of life but there is no sense of an underlying mockery. The comic is combined with the serious to offer us a balanced view of life as experienced by the people shown.
One of the best exhibition I have attended to date.
There is probably a reason for my very positive response and that is that I lived and worked in Yorkshire during this time so that the photographs on the stands bore a remarkable similarity to images in family albums (content if not quality). I could readily identify with the people shown and could relate the m to people that I knew. Time and again it was possible to say that "I knew someone who dressed/behaved like that" and the characters were similar to those that crowded the beaches that I knew and loved. I have very little doubt that we respond more readily to images that resonate with us in a personal way because they arouse emotions that still lie within us.
National Portrait Gallery Orange Street London
Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2013
Having visited the 21012 version I had told myself that I would not visit such an exhibition again because of the crowded facilities and the general standard of the work shown. However as I was in London anyway to see the other exhibitions mentioned in this blog I thought - Why not? Frankly I wished I had stuck with my original thought. For a National Institution the presentation of this major exhibition is appalling placed as it is in a small area that is woefully inadequate as though the Gallery wishes to suggest that it the exhibition is there under sufferance. When I visited it was almost impossible to see clearly any of the Prints because of the number of people in the space available far exceeded the capacity of the room so that any attempt to stand back from the large prints to be able to appreciate the work was doomed by the rush of people into the space just left that seemed, always to include the pixel sniffer who seems to believe that the best way to see an image is to wipe one's nose on the surface.
I persevered and in the brief glimpses I got I was surprised by the overall boring nature of the images on display. Almost all seemed to place the subject dead centre giving the impression of a posed image with all the attendant stiffness and sense of unreality. It was difficult to find any example of good portraiture in the whole collection. I expect to disagree with the choices for the awards because we are all different in what presses our buttons but normally I can see the reason why they were chosen. Unfortunately I could count on the fingers (excluding the thumb) the images that were worth a second glance.
Never again - but then I said that last year!
National Theatre South Bank London
Take a View - Landscape Photographer of the Year 2013
An exhibition that I enjoy visiting. The venue is excellent and the standard of the exhibits high. Even though this was my last visit at the end of quite a long day during which I seemed to have been walking and standing for ever it was a pleasure to be there. This year the overall standard was very high and the interpretation of the theme thoughtful and wide ranging. Some of the images were stunning and virtually all worth a longer period of study. It was a real pleasure to see so many really good images in one space and I am glad I was not one of the judges.
The site choice, techniques and approaches varied enough to be thought provoking and landscape photography is the genre that most excites me in my own photography. I can only stand back in admiration for some of the work and only hope that one day I can be as good. Who knows I may even submit work one day.
General Summation
It does not take a genius to realise that I have a bee in my bonnet about the way that photographic works are presented. Some curators and gallery owners seem to care little about how the images are shown and yet as the Science Museum and the National Theatre have shown it is not beyond the wit of man to create an atmosphere in which the viewer can both see and enjoy the works on show.
As one would expect there were disappointments and positive surprises throughout the day in the images that I saw but overall it was a day I thoroughly enjoyed despite the blistered foot and the stiff legs. Some images on their own made the journey worthwhile and the immediate impact was to strengthen my commitment to photography. As always the proof of the pudding lies in the long term benefits that I will only come to know as I continue my journey of exploration and learning.
Monday, 13 January 2014
Eddie Ephraums
Yesterday (Sunday 12th January 2014) I travelled to Wokingham to hear a lecture given by Eddie Ephraums. (Eddie has his own web-site and also communicates via a blog and Facebook. It is suggested that you read these if you are interested rather than any potted version I would provide). The talk had been organised by the Thames Valley Digital Imaging Group and I had come across their article in the "Membership Matters" of the RPS Journal Dec 2013/Jan 2014. My interest had been sparked by the banner headline "BLACK AND WHITE". We were told that he would present two lectures - "Many Ways of Seeing" in the morning and "Language of the Print" in the afternoon. We were further informed that the morning lecture "looks at the way different camera types, formats and media affect our relationship with the subject" and the afternoon lecture "addresses questions of what makes a print, 'speak', how we develop our own style of printing, what we can learn from looking at other photographer's prints, and whether digital photography has made us better printers."
I saw in the lecture(s) an opportunity to think about my own approach to black and white work and the underlying, unstated foundations of black and white printing. That did not happen! Clearly the interpretation I had put upon the words in the article was different to what the lecturer intended because what I heard (and others may have done also) was a largely unstructured meander through the thinking of someone facing some sort of crisis in his professional life brought about by the realisation that 'amateurs' were prepared to lecture for nothing (the essential element of being an amateur!) and anyone with a mobile phone with camera facilities could get that all important shot beloved of the media so that making a living from photography was precarious at best and depressing at worst. I cannot deny that this may have been the intention all along and that my interpretation was wildly wrong. It does emphasise the risk we take in reading something through the filters of our own thoughts.
I was so fed up by the time we were approaching the lunch break I had decided to cut my losses and return home a wiser but poorer man. However the last 'slide' told us the key content of the afternoon lecture was "Books". I have more than a passing interest in producing books and thought 'Great - here is something that makes the 250 mile round trip worthwhile'. I cannot deny that there were references to 'books' including a reference to 'Japanese stitching' which is a way of binding a book together and the creation of a concertina notebook. There was also discussion about 'gravure' printing; 'silver bromide' printing and 'platinum' printing. There was no explanation at all of what these terms meant or indeed the advantages or disadvantages. It so happens that I had read quite recently about these different processes so at least had some level of understanding but from the expression on some of the faces around me this was not general knowledge. We were also offered a brief introduction to typography. Ears pricked I waited for some nugget of advice that would assist me in the better use of typography to improve my work. I was not looking for a blow by blow description but I was expecting more than I got of which the most memorable part was a series of images of shop fronts or notice boards where the typography had clearly gone awry.
The final straw that broke this particular camels back was a question from a member of the audience who asked whether Eddie Ephraums used 'plug ins'. A simple question that elicited the reply -"No". This was followed by us being told of an image that he had seen of a walrus in which the skin folds and wrinkles of the creature were so sharpened as to spoil the picture. Here was the reason why plug ins were 'bad'! The fact that plug ins are a tool for people to use and if they are used badly it is the fault of the person using them rather than the software itself did not appear to have occurred. This was then followed by the declaration that he did not watch HD television because this suffered from the same fault. Suddenly the whole day became clear and the utterings understandable at least in the world of the lecturer. Having been ready to write off the day as a lesson learned here was something that forced me to think about all that I had heard. Admittedly it was not why I had attended the lecture but it gave me pause and made me think about the things that I have heard about photographers who set out to create a world of darkrooms, black and white, film photography and fuzzy images that the digital world seems bent on destroying. In that world the skills of the photographer, darkroom technician and printer were recognised by due reward and the amateur was seen as someone who produced snapshots and not great photographs.
Nostalgia for times gone by, when the world was a safe and comforting place and we felt secure in our skin, is a strong human emotion even when we know that no such time existed. When things are difficult and life is throwing us a series of challenges that we feel less and less able to meet we have a strong yearning for times gone by. There is nothing more alarming than finding the certainties in our life are no longer certain and that the plans we made are no longer likely to bear fruit. Perhaps that is why we attempt to re-introduce tangible things that were part of that earlier and happier way of life. Perhaps the world was a better place when we saw it through a slightly out of focus, slightly fuzzy prism. I realised as I drove home, and when I wasn't cursing the traffic on the M25, that there was a strong possibility that my choice of black and white art photography as my major project for the Course was my own longing for a simpler world. Accepting this as a possibility enabled me to gain a great deal from the day that I had initially written off.
I saw in the lecture(s) an opportunity to think about my own approach to black and white work and the underlying, unstated foundations of black and white printing. That did not happen! Clearly the interpretation I had put upon the words in the article was different to what the lecturer intended because what I heard (and others may have done also) was a largely unstructured meander through the thinking of someone facing some sort of crisis in his professional life brought about by the realisation that 'amateurs' were prepared to lecture for nothing (the essential element of being an amateur!) and anyone with a mobile phone with camera facilities could get that all important shot beloved of the media so that making a living from photography was precarious at best and depressing at worst. I cannot deny that this may have been the intention all along and that my interpretation was wildly wrong. It does emphasise the risk we take in reading something through the filters of our own thoughts.
I was so fed up by the time we were approaching the lunch break I had decided to cut my losses and return home a wiser but poorer man. However the last 'slide' told us the key content of the afternoon lecture was "Books". I have more than a passing interest in producing books and thought 'Great - here is something that makes the 250 mile round trip worthwhile'. I cannot deny that there were references to 'books' including a reference to 'Japanese stitching' which is a way of binding a book together and the creation of a concertina notebook. There was also discussion about 'gravure' printing; 'silver bromide' printing and 'platinum' printing. There was no explanation at all of what these terms meant or indeed the advantages or disadvantages. It so happens that I had read quite recently about these different processes so at least had some level of understanding but from the expression on some of the faces around me this was not general knowledge. We were also offered a brief introduction to typography. Ears pricked I waited for some nugget of advice that would assist me in the better use of typography to improve my work. I was not looking for a blow by blow description but I was expecting more than I got of which the most memorable part was a series of images of shop fronts or notice boards where the typography had clearly gone awry.
The final straw that broke this particular camels back was a question from a member of the audience who asked whether Eddie Ephraums used 'plug ins'. A simple question that elicited the reply -"No". This was followed by us being told of an image that he had seen of a walrus in which the skin folds and wrinkles of the creature were so sharpened as to spoil the picture. Here was the reason why plug ins were 'bad'! The fact that plug ins are a tool for people to use and if they are used badly it is the fault of the person using them rather than the software itself did not appear to have occurred. This was then followed by the declaration that he did not watch HD television because this suffered from the same fault. Suddenly the whole day became clear and the utterings understandable at least in the world of the lecturer. Having been ready to write off the day as a lesson learned here was something that forced me to think about all that I had heard. Admittedly it was not why I had attended the lecture but it gave me pause and made me think about the things that I have heard about photographers who set out to create a world of darkrooms, black and white, film photography and fuzzy images that the digital world seems bent on destroying. In that world the skills of the photographer, darkroom technician and printer were recognised by due reward and the amateur was seen as someone who produced snapshots and not great photographs.
Nostalgia for times gone by, when the world was a safe and comforting place and we felt secure in our skin, is a strong human emotion even when we know that no such time existed. When things are difficult and life is throwing us a series of challenges that we feel less and less able to meet we have a strong yearning for times gone by. There is nothing more alarming than finding the certainties in our life are no longer certain and that the plans we made are no longer likely to bear fruit. Perhaps that is why we attempt to re-introduce tangible things that were part of that earlier and happier way of life. Perhaps the world was a better place when we saw it through a slightly out of focus, slightly fuzzy prism. I realised as I drove home, and when I wasn't cursing the traffic on the M25, that there was a strong possibility that my choice of black and white art photography as my major project for the Course was my own longing for a simpler world. Accepting this as a possibility enabled me to gain a great deal from the day that I had initially written off.
Friday, 15 November 2013
Study Visit to Nottingham Contemporary 14th November 2013
General Comments
This proved to be one of the best study visits I have attended. We visited only two exhibitions and one symposium and there was plenty of time to chat with other students and discuss what we had seen and our reactions. (The symposium followed the time set aside for this chat and there was time set aside for a further period of reflection at the end of the day). It has always been a feeling of mine, and it is certainly true in my case, that many study visits try to cram too much viewing into the time available at the cost of thinking and discussion time. At large events, such as that at Derby, there are hundreds of images to see and after a time they merge into one and I have reached saturation point. At this visit there were a limited number of images in the Asco visit and the Geoffrey Farmer exhibition was a whole series of statuary and made objects and no photographs.
The Building
The day we visited Nottingham Contemporary was its 4th Birthday and I understand that it was 3 years in the planning and building. It is without doubt a striking building that cannot be ignored not least because it is so at odds with its surroundings. I knew the area very well, my first job after leaving school (1956) was with the Royal Exchanger Assurance Company who had offices at 7 Low Pavement (now part of the Marks and Spencers store) and I sometimes spent my lunch hour exploring the area around St Mary's Church and the Shire Hall (now a museum). I also have a family connection to the Lace Market as my maternal grandmother worked for a number of years as a lacemaker both in the district and at home. The houses of the rich merchants and factory owners who made their fortune from Nottingham Lace are still in the area together with the Churches their money built. The houses are now largely Chambers for Barristers and their clerks (the Shire Hall was where the Quarter Sessions and Assizes were held prior to the creation of Crown Courts as we know them today) but retain their facades and stand in stark contrast to the modern building in their midst.
I suppose if you do not wish to create something that is sympathetic to its surroundings then it is more satisfactory to create something that makes a statement about its modernity.
Internally the same 'brutal' approach continued and whilst the space is cleverly used, and there is plenty of it, I was left with the feeling that I had wandered into some abandoned warehouse that was being squatted in by a band of artists and stallholders. For photography, where the images are framed and behind reflective glass, the lighting leaves much to be desired. There comes a point where seeing yourself as a more than ghostly image in the display becomes a nuisance and I found myself constantly shifting my position in an attempt to reduce the excessive reflections. Also the very high ceilings provide poor acoustics for specific purposes such as the guided tour where the guide's narrative is difficult to follow.
It is perhaps appropriate at this point to mention the staff - the people who man the galleries. I spent a lot of my time talking to them. Without exception they showed a considerable depth of knowledge and enthusiasm about the works being shown. They were an invaluable resource for learning about the different elements but also, because of their previous training, they were able to provide context that helped understanding.
Asco
Asco, an artist collective, was created in the early 1970's by four Mexican Americans - Harry Gamboa jr., Pattsi Valdez, Gronk and Willie F. Herron III. At this time America as a whole was being riven by the controversy about America's involvement in the Vietnam War. It was also a time of unrest and dissatisfaction with agitation by various movements seeking betterment of the lot of women, youth, ethnic groups amongst others. There were also often violent reactions including riots to police brutality and other examples of violent state control. In the case of Mexican Americans they felt that, like their black counterparts, they were, as an ethnic group, taking more than their fair share of drafting into the armed forces that was more easily avoided by white middle class Americans. All groups of protestors felt that in some way they were excluded from mainstream politics and society.
The term Asco means disgust or revulsion in Spanish and relates to the reaction of the group and others to the perceived oppressive regime they felt was suffered by the American/Mexican community. Through their photographs and actions they tried to express this disgust. At this remove, some 40 years on, it is difficult to judge whether they were successful or not in achieving their stated aims. Other photographers experiences, such as photojournalists, suggests that the answer would be No. Don McCullin whose work covers most of the major conflicts since the Second World War in the Western world came to a negative conclusion about his impact upon war and conflict. In the catalogue for the 2013 Visa Pour L'image held in Perpignan McCullin admitted his distress and weariness: he saw that ultimately his efforts and commitment had served no purpose (p96). Perhaps it is the lot of photographers, who believe that their work will help to change the world in some way, are always destined to become a footnote in the history of the world with their only claim to fame to have been the start or instigators of some movement in photography. In the handout we were given by the Gallery staff in the exhibition areas relating to the two exhibitions on show one can read the following about Asco:
"Their way of parodying pop culture (fashion, rock music, the movie industry), its gender politics and distribution strategies (public access cable tv, zines, fotonovelas) make them in retrospect, important forerunners of postmodernism and post-punk culture in general".
What of the images themselves. Again we see them through a culture some 40 years into the future from the time these images were created. They failed to involve me emotionally and I found myself applying modern day critique of the photograph as an object rather than an image that was attempting to convey a message. It was difficult to see beyond the off key colours as though the images were enlarged copies of prints that had been stored for decades with the resultant damage to the ink structure. They were in a sense unreal and not part of my world now. I had seen similar images of the unrest in America on my TV only a few hours after the event and in retrospect the sheer volume of images had inured me to their message. It had about the same impact as watching a war film at the cinema. These images had about as much impact as heroic paintings of war - they offered some insight but left no lasting impression.
Having said that there were three images that were linked to each other. The artist portrayed felt that he was being held back from creating the work that he considered was his purpose by a 'doll' that in some way prevented him from achieving his aims. In the three photographs we are offered a view of how the doll was part of his world and in the final photograph we are shown the doll in flames. He was destroying the block to his ambitions. Seen individually the photographs were simply of interest but once I understood the link they became a powerful message. Here lies the problem for all photographers who wish to convey a message - how much text should be provided to encourage the viewer to see what you want them to see. I have to confess that on first viewing I had failed to see the message and found the images puzzling. Later I was talking to one of the gallery assistants who explained the connection to me and all was revealed.
Later in the afternoon we met as a group over a cup of coffee and a common theme was the block experienced by students as they tackled specific assignments and I was reminded of the three pictures seen only a few minutes before. There was a general agreement about how difficult it was to move forward as though something was holding us back. I had never thought of it being anything other than my own reluctance to place my knowledge or lack thereof in the general domain. Certainly I had not created a 'doll' although my internal reasoning constantly sought excuses/reasons outside of myself without any 'target' for the causes. I am not too sure that setting fire to an effigy of my tutor would have helped me move on but who knows!?
Geoffrey Farmer - Let's Make the Water Turn Black
Unfortunately the exhibition, which combines artefacts, music and light to create the complete show was not working, so we were only able to see the artefacts created by Geoffrey Farmer. However it did give us a chance to see the creation without the distraction of other things going on around us. Not that we could necessarily understand the whole show but we could see the placement of things within the exhibition space. I was reminded of the Clock in the Victoria Centre in Nottingham that was designed by Ronald Searle. On the hour it comes 'alive' with wheels turning, flowers opening, and music playing. Seeing Farmer's exhibition allowed led me to imagining a workshop in the world of Searle where all the pieces are laid out before assembly so that whilst, perhaps, sense can be made of the whole, each individual piece is wrapped in its own mystery inviting the viewer to try to work out what each part does.
I could not help thinking that the creation would have benefited from allowing young children to play, unfettered, in this wonderful fantasy world.
The Symposium.
The symposium was entitled "The Poetics and Politics of Disgust". To quote from the Nottingham Contemporary website: "Through reading and discussion, four sessions led by Tracey Potts of the University of Nottingham Centre for Critical Theory address disgust within art, theory, and the social realm, bringing in references from theories of abjection to TV documentaries". Unfortunately we only attended one session and we seemed to have missed half of that session. It would seem unreasonable to draw conclusions on the whole programme from a very limited part. Hopefully other speakers were more competent than the one's we had to endure. I have to confess to two pet hates in listening to presentations - one is where the presenter simply reads, almost without taking breath, from a prepared script and the second is saying "quote"......."unquote" whenever using a quote from another person. The first speaker was guilty of both and the second was a 'reader'. The overall quality of the presentation was severely damaged by the first speaker being unable to answer a question from one of her peers and instead of stating so tried lamely to talk her way out of it finally saying that "perhaps she should have thought of it."
At the first opportunity I left the theatre as did others. However the first speaker did raise an interesting point. She showed stills from a performance art presentation where the artist had tried to forcibly feed himself hot dogs having swallowed tomato ketchup which he had also smeared onto his body together with mustard. We were told that this was a comment on the consumerist society. His 'stuffing' of his face apparently reached the point that his body was attempting to vomit the whole mess. In the presentation there was comment on the disgusting nature of what the artist was doing i.e he was being disgusting; and the reaction of the audience who were disgusted by the performance to the point of feeling the need to vomit. Apparently the artist had first presented this spectacle to a small invited audience of his friends. This proved to be so stressful that he stopped giving live performances and produced a video. We, as an audience, saw only two stills.
The question was asked whether the method of presentation affected an audience's reaction - was the disgust greater in a live performance than in a video? Certainly I was not disgusted by what I was being shown on the screen - in some ways I found the whole thing risible. The interaction between the artist and a live audience is necessarily more intense than say a video or still portrayal. We can feel as well as see the whole performance and our bodily reactions will become affected by our natural reaction of disgust at such behaviour. Further seeing and hearing someone retch and gag is likely to provoke a sympathetic reaction in ourselves.
To sit and watch a video is a common experience for most of us and modern presentations have pushed further and further the realism in what we are shown. It is not unusual now to be shown the gory details of a murder close up and even post-mortems are offered in every minute detail. We learn from this a technique, unique to ourselves, that protects us from the reality. It is though through many years of experience of watching television we have discovered a way of strengthening our ability to see as unreal anything that is shocking. Such reaction applies to even real events so that our sympathies and emotions are dulled. Any video presentation is going to suffer from this deadening of our visceral reaction.
Stills are even easier to reject as unreal and therefore containable by our emotions and empathetic reaction. The famous photograph of the young Vietnamese girl running, screaming from the pain of napalm only impacts upon us the first time we see it and then only initially because to accept the reality of what we are being shown is to risk madness because only madness can cope with insane actions.
There is much more to consider from the day but this is only likely to happen over a lengthy period of time as the lessons seen, but not necessarily understood, come up against life's experiences.
This proved to be one of the best study visits I have attended. We visited only two exhibitions and one symposium and there was plenty of time to chat with other students and discuss what we had seen and our reactions. (The symposium followed the time set aside for this chat and there was time set aside for a further period of reflection at the end of the day). It has always been a feeling of mine, and it is certainly true in my case, that many study visits try to cram too much viewing into the time available at the cost of thinking and discussion time. At large events, such as that at Derby, there are hundreds of images to see and after a time they merge into one and I have reached saturation point. At this visit there were a limited number of images in the Asco visit and the Geoffrey Farmer exhibition was a whole series of statuary and made objects and no photographs.
The Building
The day we visited Nottingham Contemporary was its 4th Birthday and I understand that it was 3 years in the planning and building. It is without doubt a striking building that cannot be ignored not least because it is so at odds with its surroundings. I knew the area very well, my first job after leaving school (1956) was with the Royal Exchanger Assurance Company who had offices at 7 Low Pavement (now part of the Marks and Spencers store) and I sometimes spent my lunch hour exploring the area around St Mary's Church and the Shire Hall (now a museum). I also have a family connection to the Lace Market as my maternal grandmother worked for a number of years as a lacemaker both in the district and at home. The houses of the rich merchants and factory owners who made their fortune from Nottingham Lace are still in the area together with the Churches their money built. The houses are now largely Chambers for Barristers and their clerks (the Shire Hall was where the Quarter Sessions and Assizes were held prior to the creation of Crown Courts as we know them today) but retain their facades and stand in stark contrast to the modern building in their midst.
I suppose if you do not wish to create something that is sympathetic to its surroundings then it is more satisfactory to create something that makes a statement about its modernity.
Internally the same 'brutal' approach continued and whilst the space is cleverly used, and there is plenty of it, I was left with the feeling that I had wandered into some abandoned warehouse that was being squatted in by a band of artists and stallholders. For photography, where the images are framed and behind reflective glass, the lighting leaves much to be desired. There comes a point where seeing yourself as a more than ghostly image in the display becomes a nuisance and I found myself constantly shifting my position in an attempt to reduce the excessive reflections. Also the very high ceilings provide poor acoustics for specific purposes such as the guided tour where the guide's narrative is difficult to follow.
It is perhaps appropriate at this point to mention the staff - the people who man the galleries. I spent a lot of my time talking to them. Without exception they showed a considerable depth of knowledge and enthusiasm about the works being shown. They were an invaluable resource for learning about the different elements but also, because of their previous training, they were able to provide context that helped understanding.
Asco
Asco, an artist collective, was created in the early 1970's by four Mexican Americans - Harry Gamboa jr., Pattsi Valdez, Gronk and Willie F. Herron III. At this time America as a whole was being riven by the controversy about America's involvement in the Vietnam War. It was also a time of unrest and dissatisfaction with agitation by various movements seeking betterment of the lot of women, youth, ethnic groups amongst others. There were also often violent reactions including riots to police brutality and other examples of violent state control. In the case of Mexican Americans they felt that, like their black counterparts, they were, as an ethnic group, taking more than their fair share of drafting into the armed forces that was more easily avoided by white middle class Americans. All groups of protestors felt that in some way they were excluded from mainstream politics and society.
The term Asco means disgust or revulsion in Spanish and relates to the reaction of the group and others to the perceived oppressive regime they felt was suffered by the American/Mexican community. Through their photographs and actions they tried to express this disgust. At this remove, some 40 years on, it is difficult to judge whether they were successful or not in achieving their stated aims. Other photographers experiences, such as photojournalists, suggests that the answer would be No. Don McCullin whose work covers most of the major conflicts since the Second World War in the Western world came to a negative conclusion about his impact upon war and conflict. In the catalogue for the 2013 Visa Pour L'image held in Perpignan McCullin admitted his distress and weariness: he saw that ultimately his efforts and commitment had served no purpose (p96). Perhaps it is the lot of photographers, who believe that their work will help to change the world in some way, are always destined to become a footnote in the history of the world with their only claim to fame to have been the start or instigators of some movement in photography. In the handout we were given by the Gallery staff in the exhibition areas relating to the two exhibitions on show one can read the following about Asco:
"Their way of parodying pop culture (fashion, rock music, the movie industry), its gender politics and distribution strategies (public access cable tv, zines, fotonovelas) make them in retrospect, important forerunners of postmodernism and post-punk culture in general".
What of the images themselves. Again we see them through a culture some 40 years into the future from the time these images were created. They failed to involve me emotionally and I found myself applying modern day critique of the photograph as an object rather than an image that was attempting to convey a message. It was difficult to see beyond the off key colours as though the images were enlarged copies of prints that had been stored for decades with the resultant damage to the ink structure. They were in a sense unreal and not part of my world now. I had seen similar images of the unrest in America on my TV only a few hours after the event and in retrospect the sheer volume of images had inured me to their message. It had about the same impact as watching a war film at the cinema. These images had about as much impact as heroic paintings of war - they offered some insight but left no lasting impression.
Having said that there were three images that were linked to each other. The artist portrayed felt that he was being held back from creating the work that he considered was his purpose by a 'doll' that in some way prevented him from achieving his aims. In the three photographs we are offered a view of how the doll was part of his world and in the final photograph we are shown the doll in flames. He was destroying the block to his ambitions. Seen individually the photographs were simply of interest but once I understood the link they became a powerful message. Here lies the problem for all photographers who wish to convey a message - how much text should be provided to encourage the viewer to see what you want them to see. I have to confess that on first viewing I had failed to see the message and found the images puzzling. Later I was talking to one of the gallery assistants who explained the connection to me and all was revealed.
Later in the afternoon we met as a group over a cup of coffee and a common theme was the block experienced by students as they tackled specific assignments and I was reminded of the three pictures seen only a few minutes before. There was a general agreement about how difficult it was to move forward as though something was holding us back. I had never thought of it being anything other than my own reluctance to place my knowledge or lack thereof in the general domain. Certainly I had not created a 'doll' although my internal reasoning constantly sought excuses/reasons outside of myself without any 'target' for the causes. I am not too sure that setting fire to an effigy of my tutor would have helped me move on but who knows!?
Geoffrey Farmer - Let's Make the Water Turn Black
Unfortunately the exhibition, which combines artefacts, music and light to create the complete show was not working, so we were only able to see the artefacts created by Geoffrey Farmer. However it did give us a chance to see the creation without the distraction of other things going on around us. Not that we could necessarily understand the whole show but we could see the placement of things within the exhibition space. I was reminded of the Clock in the Victoria Centre in Nottingham that was designed by Ronald Searle. On the hour it comes 'alive' with wheels turning, flowers opening, and music playing. Seeing Farmer's exhibition allowed led me to imagining a workshop in the world of Searle where all the pieces are laid out before assembly so that whilst, perhaps, sense can be made of the whole, each individual piece is wrapped in its own mystery inviting the viewer to try to work out what each part does.
I could not help thinking that the creation would have benefited from allowing young children to play, unfettered, in this wonderful fantasy world.
The Symposium.
The symposium was entitled "The Poetics and Politics of Disgust". To quote from the Nottingham Contemporary website: "Through reading and discussion, four sessions led by Tracey Potts of the University of Nottingham Centre for Critical Theory address disgust within art, theory, and the social realm, bringing in references from theories of abjection to TV documentaries". Unfortunately we only attended one session and we seemed to have missed half of that session. It would seem unreasonable to draw conclusions on the whole programme from a very limited part. Hopefully other speakers were more competent than the one's we had to endure. I have to confess to two pet hates in listening to presentations - one is where the presenter simply reads, almost without taking breath, from a prepared script and the second is saying "quote"......."unquote" whenever using a quote from another person. The first speaker was guilty of both and the second was a 'reader'. The overall quality of the presentation was severely damaged by the first speaker being unable to answer a question from one of her peers and instead of stating so tried lamely to talk her way out of it finally saying that "perhaps she should have thought of it."
At the first opportunity I left the theatre as did others. However the first speaker did raise an interesting point. She showed stills from a performance art presentation where the artist had tried to forcibly feed himself hot dogs having swallowed tomato ketchup which he had also smeared onto his body together with mustard. We were told that this was a comment on the consumerist society. His 'stuffing' of his face apparently reached the point that his body was attempting to vomit the whole mess. In the presentation there was comment on the disgusting nature of what the artist was doing i.e he was being disgusting; and the reaction of the audience who were disgusted by the performance to the point of feeling the need to vomit. Apparently the artist had first presented this spectacle to a small invited audience of his friends. This proved to be so stressful that he stopped giving live performances and produced a video. We, as an audience, saw only two stills.
The question was asked whether the method of presentation affected an audience's reaction - was the disgust greater in a live performance than in a video? Certainly I was not disgusted by what I was being shown on the screen - in some ways I found the whole thing risible. The interaction between the artist and a live audience is necessarily more intense than say a video or still portrayal. We can feel as well as see the whole performance and our bodily reactions will become affected by our natural reaction of disgust at such behaviour. Further seeing and hearing someone retch and gag is likely to provoke a sympathetic reaction in ourselves.
To sit and watch a video is a common experience for most of us and modern presentations have pushed further and further the realism in what we are shown. It is not unusual now to be shown the gory details of a murder close up and even post-mortems are offered in every minute detail. We learn from this a technique, unique to ourselves, that protects us from the reality. It is though through many years of experience of watching television we have discovered a way of strengthening our ability to see as unreal anything that is shocking. Such reaction applies to even real events so that our sympathies and emotions are dulled. Any video presentation is going to suffer from this deadening of our visceral reaction.
Stills are even easier to reject as unreal and therefore containable by our emotions and empathetic reaction. The famous photograph of the young Vietnamese girl running, screaming from the pain of napalm only impacts upon us the first time we see it and then only initially because to accept the reality of what we are being shown is to risk madness because only madness can cope with insane actions.
There is much more to consider from the day but this is only likely to happen over a lengthy period of time as the lessons seen, but not necessarily understood, come up against life's experiences.
Thursday, 7 November 2013
Instinctive or Controlled?
Currently I am studying the background and work of Gregory Crewdson. What is evident is the amount of control he exercises over the content and final production of the image. This led me to thinking about whether his work is photography or something else but also where he fitted in, if at all, with our general ideas about a 'photographer'. It occurred to me that the term 'photographer' includes a wide range of individual approaches to photography and that it could be usefully considered as a normal distribution curve.
with the baseline ranging from instinctive to total control where the two end terms relate to the photographic type as judged by the work of the individual. It is important to state that the judgement relates solely on what we perceive when we examine any particular photographer's work. It would be wrong, in my view, to extrapolate from the person's work to a general statement about his/her personality type. If there is any reality in what I am proposing then the majority (approx 70%) of photographers (here I am thinking both professional and amateur photographers) lie in that area where photographs are chosen and the photographer has some control over the resulting image.
Lets first deal with the question - "Can Crewdson's work can be considered to be photography?" Of course the answer lies in how you define what is a photograph. A suitably broad answer would include everything (A photograph is a photograph because I describe it as a photograph!). Perhaps a more limiting answer, and probably more acceptable to most, would be the definition Roland Barthes provides in the book Camera Lucida. (1. Barthes R (1980) . Camera Lucida. Translated edition (2000) London Vintage). Barthes in “Camera Lucida” (p76) argues that it is not possible to deny that the subject of the photograph “has been there”. It is this unique property that is the essence (Barthes uses the term ‘noeme’ ) of Photography. He gives the noeme a name: “That has been”. It is argued that a photograph is a photograph because it shows something ‘that has been’. what we see is a photograph because all the elements within that photograph "have been". Although much of Crewdson's work can be described as created, what we see existed in front of the camera at the time the shot was taken and that what we see is a 'photograph' because all the elements "have been".
It is probably an injustice to describe the images Crewdson creates as a single frame from a movie film but in essence that is what they are. The result, although a single image, is the coming together of Crewdson's original idea, created by a specialist team and using up to 60 people with all the paraphernalia (scenery, location, and lighting etc.) of the movie set. Crewdson has almost complete control of everything except the weather conditions when shooting outside. There is a moment in the DVD Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters (I have only scene a trailer as the DVD itself is only available in the format used in the States which is not compatible with UK players) when he says to crew members - "Look at that sky. It is the best sky we have ever had". The climatic conditions are the one uncertainty in his world at the time of shooting so although he may be very close to the 'total control' end of the continuum he is not quite there. Where the set has been created and photographed in a studio then he can exercise total control but this is only part of his work.
Early photographers necessarily had to exercise a great deal of control because of the limitations of their equipment and processes. However as exposure times fell then they had greater degrees of freedom in the images that they could create. For an early example of someone who would exercise total control one has only to look at the work of Julia Margaret Cameron (1815 - 1879). She was given a camera by her daughter in 1863 when she was 48 years old and she records that the first print with which she was satisfied was taken in January 1864. In broad terms her work can be divided into two main groups - portraits and creations based on religious or literary works. In portraiture she would ask that her subjects patiently wait as she made numerous exposures that necessitated her preparing each wet plate separately. Cameron's control here lay in her almost obsessive desire to get the perfect image. For her allegorical work she exercised the same control whilst insisting on a specific pose that reflected the original work. One of her most famous images is Beatrice Cenci:
with the baseline ranging from instinctive to total control where the two end terms relate to the photographic type as judged by the work of the individual. It is important to state that the judgement relates solely on what we perceive when we examine any particular photographer's work. It would be wrong, in my view, to extrapolate from the person's work to a general statement about his/her personality type. If there is any reality in what I am proposing then the majority (approx 70%) of photographers (here I am thinking both professional and amateur photographers) lie in that area where photographs are chosen and the photographer has some control over the resulting image.
Lets first deal with the question - "Can Crewdson's work can be considered to be photography?" Of course the answer lies in how you define what is a photograph. A suitably broad answer would include everything (A photograph is a photograph because I describe it as a photograph!). Perhaps a more limiting answer, and probably more acceptable to most, would be the definition Roland Barthes provides in the book Camera Lucida. (1. Barthes R (1980) . Camera Lucida. Translated edition (2000) London Vintage). Barthes in “Camera Lucida” (p76) argues that it is not possible to deny that the subject of the photograph “has been there”. It is this unique property that is the essence (Barthes uses the term ‘noeme’ ) of Photography. He gives the noeme a name: “That has been”. It is argued that a photograph is a photograph because it shows something ‘that has been’. what we see is a photograph because all the elements within that photograph "have been". Although much of Crewdson's work can be described as created, what we see existed in front of the camera at the time the shot was taken and that what we see is a 'photograph' because all the elements "have been".
It is probably an injustice to describe the images Crewdson creates as a single frame from a movie film but in essence that is what they are. The result, although a single image, is the coming together of Crewdson's original idea, created by a specialist team and using up to 60 people with all the paraphernalia (scenery, location, and lighting etc.) of the movie set. Crewdson has almost complete control of everything except the weather conditions when shooting outside. There is a moment in the DVD Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters (I have only scene a trailer as the DVD itself is only available in the format used in the States which is not compatible with UK players) when he says to crew members - "Look at that sky. It is the best sky we have ever had". The climatic conditions are the one uncertainty in his world at the time of shooting so although he may be very close to the 'total control' end of the continuum he is not quite there. Where the set has been created and photographed in a studio then he can exercise total control but this is only part of his work.
Early photographers necessarily had to exercise a great deal of control because of the limitations of their equipment and processes. However as exposure times fell then they had greater degrees of freedom in the images that they could create. For an early example of someone who would exercise total control one has only to look at the work of Julia Margaret Cameron (1815 - 1879). She was given a camera by her daughter in 1863 when she was 48 years old and she records that the first print with which she was satisfied was taken in January 1864. In broad terms her work can be divided into two main groups - portraits and creations based on religious or literary works. In portraiture she would ask that her subjects patiently wait as she made numerous exposures that necessitated her preparing each wet plate separately. Cameron's control here lay in her almost obsessive desire to get the perfect image. For her allegorical work she exercised the same control whilst insisting on a specific pose that reflected the original work. One of her most famous images is Beatrice Cenci:
© V&A Museum
Cameron posed May Prinsep a relative of Alfred Lord Tennyson as Beatrice Cenci illustrating the story of the girl who killed her father and was subsequently executed.
A more recent example is the work of Maisie Broadhead who produces modern interpretations of old masterpieces by such artist as Vermeer and Velasquez. One example is the work shown as part of the Seduced by Art Exhibition held at the National Gallery from 31 October 2012 - 20 January 2013. The two thumbnails below are taken from the book - Hope Kingsley (2012) Seduced by Art Phtography Past and Present London National Gallery Co. Ltd that for those who were unfortunate to miss the exhibition is an invaluable resource.
The top image is by Simon Vouet entitled "An allegory of Wealth (La Richesse)" about 1635. Oil on Canvas 170 x 124cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
The lower image is by Maisie Broadhead "Keep them sweet" 2010 Digital C Print 145 x 106.5cm Represented by Sarah Myerscough Fine Art, London.
All aspects of the photograph were under the control of Ms Broadhead although I say this with some doubt having recently spent an afternoon photographing young children who were a little bit older than the two in the image!! Perhaps it would be unfair to place Broadhead at the far right of the baseline.
At the same exhibition was an image by Jeff Wall ("The Destroyed Room" 1978 printed 1987 Cibachrome transparency in fluorescent Lightbox 158.8 x 229cm National Gallery of Canada Ottawa that was inspired by Delacroix,s "The Death of Sardanapalus"). Wall has stated ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yG2k4C4zrU) that he sees but does not photograph until he has re-created what he saw in the Studio. Presumably he is in a very similar position to the painter who is at liberty, when painting, to move the relative positions of the various elements to create a more idealistic scene. I would suggest here that Wall can assert complete control over all aspects of the shoot and therefore can be placed on the far right of the baseline.
Where then do we find phtographs at the 'instinctive' side of the distribution. Three examples that came to mind were war photographers, street photographers and wildlife photographers. In both situations the photographer is faced with a multiplicity of opportunities that may vary only slightly from all that surrounds the 'best' image. The greats of the trade instinctively (without conscious thought) take the right one. The instinct is probably a combination of training and experience, 'something' tells him/her that this is the shot, but the reaction is instant and defies rational thought. Some have the question mark as to whether the photographer was just lucky, as in the following shot
entitled South Vietnam National Police Chief Nguyen Ngoe Loan executes a suspected Viet Cong member 1968. Taken by Eddie Adams it is a Silver Print and is ©World Press Photo/The Associated Press New York. Yet it can be argued that Adams experience told him that something dramatic was about to happen so the shot was taken.
Wildlife photographers spend many years learning and assimilating the movements of the wildlife they photograph. In this image Michael Nichols working for the National Geographic Magazine catches the magic moment between these two Serengeti lions.
Again I would argue that the many years of experience led to an awareness that created the opportunity for the image.
The next image is a mix of conflict and street photography Don McCullin took the image in Londonderry Northern Ireland in 1971 and shows the moment British soldiers commit themselves to 'battle'.
McCullin's instincts have been honed over years of being in the middle of conflict.
Are there lessons to be learnt from such an analysis of types of photographer? Probably only at the individual level for only the individual can decide what sort of personality he brings to his/her photography. It may help someone to decide what type of photography they are best suited for so that they can direct their learning and gain experience in the type that best suits them and in which they will be most comfortable.
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