BURG

Wolfgang Tillmans is a master at taking snapshots of seemingly normal realities but he brings them to life in creative ways. A lot of Tillmans images capture the happenings of one person's everyday rituals, to other people this can be extraordinarily different. Tillmans implies life in lifeless objects whether it be a piece of fruit or a pair of jeans. One of my favourite images is titled 'Grey jeans over stairpost, 1991'.

 

This image is striking in the way there is a lack of human presence but you can imagine the human presence that led to the composition of such an image. I can see in it the frnatic scrambling out of the jeans and other clothing items and the stumble up the stairs to a room less public, for private happenings. I think the abundance of light places the time of the photograph at the morning afterwards, which further implies lack of care for the state of the house, more important things were on these peoples minds, at least util the next morning.

 

All of this from a pair of jeans.

Grey jeans over stairpost, 1991

 

 

moonrise, Puerto Rico, 1995

Another image from BURG that I found breathtakihng is 'moonrise, Puerto Rico, 1995'. Firstly, in the book the image is a different colour to the one below. The globe in the sky is more of a yellow than an orange and the white t-shirt on the left is more green.

 

The image tells us that at least two people are experienceing this fantastic sight, appreciating the wonders of the earth; we are left to imagine the relationship of these two people. Which could be anything from best friends, to lovers, to a spontaneous pairing, they may have just met whilst searching out this marvel and from it may come a fantastic friendship.

 

Again, an image that is just a snapshot, a single frame in the life of someone, we are left to make up the rest of the story.

 

 

Images from: 

 

http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/artwork/9642

 

http://arttattler.com/archivetillmans.html 



Harvey Benge as Inspiration

A photographic artist whose work I have looked into is Harvey Benge. The following images are from his books Lucky Box, Killing Time In Paradise, and Four Parts Religion Six Parts Sin.

Thee first image confused me a lot, I knew it was an eggshell, but I thought the circular thing was a camera lens, it took me some time but I finally realized that it was a kitchen waste disposal. The unique close up distorts the image into something unrecognizable. A lot of Benge's photos do this, and sometimes it is the composition of these images rather than the things photographed that are the most interesting.

I have an appreciation for how he has turned such an ordinary sight into something well composed and interesting.

Another reason I like Benge's artwork is that he photographs things that are interesting, as in not seen everyday. Like this axe throwing bulls eye placed onto a tree.

Another interest of mine which Benge illustrates is photographing things usually not thought worthy of photographing, like the trash behind this building,

This trash compresser,

This wooden crate; Benge has the courage to look down to take his photos,

The corner of this pillar which has cracked off and then been painted over like nothing is wrong.

The above photos are places and objects that we rarely think about but often contribute towards.

Another reason I relate to Benge's work is that some of the things he photographs appear to be deliberately placed, whether by himself or someone else.

For example this woman underneath the tarpaulin, it seems to me that Benge has instructed her under there so he can create an image of just her legs. In these constructed images I like to construct a narrative to the scene, a reason why.

In the next image a tarpaulin is once again used, I think it creates mystery as to what may be underneath it. 

Another interesting aspect to some of Benge's photography is the use of reflection to blur two images together. This is a bit beyond my current capability but I will consider experimenting with this.

The previous image and the following image both appear to me set up by either Benge or someone else. also both images involve televisions and that is what I would like to focus on. for my upcoming set of photographs.

Inspiration

Upon recieving my grades back from my first project I have realised that I could definately have done better, and that I can push myself to explore shapes via programming a whole lot more.

A few quick google search has come up with some interesting images that are good inspiration for me.

 These flooded roads have a smooth flowing structure that is reflected. There is also a definate sense of depth to the image.

 I searched Bauhausian Designs and found this simplistic chess set. The shapes created are simple shapes that I could produce in code. The Chess board could become a motif.

 The grid of this graph has a clear structure wheras the data has no clear structure. I could work with the idea of layering structure over the top of noise and having the two componants (the noisy componant and the structured componant) transform into the other (structure turns to noise, noise turns to structure).


Images from :

 http://www.aanda.org/index.php?option=com_article&access=standard&Itemid=129&url=/articles/aa/full/2002/31/aah3395/node3.html

http://www.interestingfactstoday.com/flood-facts

http://www.naefspiele.ch/index.php?id=57&L=1