After many years of battling for
recognition modern photography has now come to be appreciated by the art world
as an art form in its own right, rather than simply as a means to document the
world as we see it. Artists are turning more and more to photography as a means
of self-expression, national museums employ photography curators and major
photographic exhibitions at large museums and galleries such as Tate Modern in
London are becoming commonplace. Contemporary artists are experimenting with
photography in many different ways, each trying to find their own particular
creative niche. This book attempts to explain the philosophy and artistry that
lies behind one hundred photographs produced by one hundred (mainly)
contemporary artists, what inspired them to produce their work and how the
photographs were created. In so doing, Higgins hopes to enlighten and inform
the layman (such as myself) about what makes the world of contemporary
photographic art “tick”.
Whilst Higgins emphasises the
contemporary nature of the works in this book she also pays homage to many of
the pioneers of modern photographic art in the form of works by William
Eggleston, Lee Friedlander, Nan Goldin, Andreas Gursky, Martin Parr, Richard
Prince, Ed Ruscha, Cindy Sherman and Jeff Wall, amongst others. Their classic
and sometimes controversial works provide a solid background for the work of
the younger artists featured here. Henri Cartier-Bresson’s classic “Decisive
Moment” photograph “Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare” (1932) is also featured!
There is plenty of variety in the work of some of the younger and/or less
well-known artists. We have examples of extreme under- and over-exposure,
completely blurred and incredibly sharp and detailed images, examples of
“photograms” taken in the absence of a camera, severely pixelated images and
photographs that have been over-painted. Some images are part of a series,
whilst others are “standalones”. Some images apparently have no photographic
merit, whilst others have aesthetic appeal. Of course, aesthetic appeal is to
some extent in the eye of the beholder: what appeals to me may not appeal to
another reader and vice-versa.
The photographs are grouped in
different sections, entitled “Portraits/Smile”, “Document/Snap” etc. It must
have been a struggle for Higgins to categorise some of the images at all,
whilst others could have been placed in two or more sections. Each is accompanied
by short passages of text (a) documenting the artist’s approach, process and
technique, (b) locating the image in its historic and artistic context and,
most importantly, (c) explaining why the photograph is an important work of
art. Other text boxes provide relevant quotes, references and additional
incidental information. To see how effective this approach is, let’s have a
look at a couple of self-portraits, by Anne Collier and Gavin Turk (below)
featured in the first, portrait section.
Anne Collier
Gavin Turk
I enjoyed studying American
photographer Anne Collier’s work, “Mirror Ball”. The multiple surfaces of the
mirror ball, being at slightly different angles to the camera, display fragments
of her face which the observer struggles to piece together. Higgins says
essentially the same thing, before concluding her brief explanation of the
photograph’s significance as follows: “The work recalls the curator James
Lingwood’s description of our desire for unity of our ‘self’ as an ‘ungraspable
phantom’. With the mirrorball, Collier creates a self-portrait that reads as an
abstraction, shattering any illusion of a coherent, stable identity”. Really?
Why does this make the photograph an important work of art?
British artist Gavin Turk’s
self-portrait, “Portrait of Something that I’ll never really see” (above) has
no impact on me. As Higgins says in her explanation of its significance: “His
closed eyes suggest that the photographer chose the wrong microsecond to trip
the exposure” before quoting Turk’s explanation: “I tried hard to appear
without expression, leaving my eyes closed so they became the focus. The eyes
act as a full stop”. Higgins then concludes: “This simple gesture frustrates
the viewer’s attempt to read the portrait for personality”. To be fair, Higgins
quotes Turk elsewhere as saying that he was trying to make a piece of work
“that was simple and only a fraction away from an ordinary picture” and that
the portrait would “never really” reveal any more with his eyes left open (I
disagree). However, my point is that the explanatory notes fail or, at best,
only go part of the way towards enlightening me as to why many of these works
of art were created. As a consequence I was left to reflect on my tutor’s
comments that it takes several years for a student such as me to fully
understand the significance of contemporary works of fine art, including the
above examples.
Whilst I struggled to rationalise
the work of some of the featured photographers, a number of the images did
stand out and were enjoyable to study. Whilst the idea of photographing both
urban and rural landscapes through a rain-spattered or misty vehicle windscreen
is not new I did enjoy looking at Iranian photographer and film-maker Abbas
Kiarostami’s atmospheric landscape (“Untitled”, from the series “Rain”), an
image that encourages the viewer to interpret the interrupted view beyond the
droplets and streams of water on the windscreen.
This book presents an excellent
introduction to the work of some of the best known practitioners of modern
photographic art over the last 50 years, together with a selection of work from
some younger “up and coming” photographic artists. Some of the featured images
are guaranteed to inspire and assist in the generation of new ideas for current
photographers who wish to find their niche in the world of modern photographic
art. The work of artists of particular interest can be researched in more depth
(references to some of their best known work are given). However, I do not
believe that the explanations provided by the author will enlighten the lay
photographer or convince them that their
photograph “does not have to be in
focus”.
Learning Points, Future Work and References
The featured artists have all developed
novel and distinctive (if sometimes controversial) styles that have, at least
partly, been responsible for them achieving artistic and/or commercial success.
It is perhaps as difficult for an
expert to explain why a photograph
or photographic style is important or relevant within the field of modern
photographic art as it is for the layman to understand why.
I should re-appraise Cindy Sherman’s
“Untitled Film Stills” series, perhaps the most influential photographic story
board ever produced and a series that must surely be of benefit in designing my
own major project story board.
I should consider whether any of
the techniques used by the featured artists could be of benefit for my own
future work, both within and outside my OCA course work.
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