Man Ray – Research

 

Man Ray played a key role in the Surrealist and Dada movements, where he produced paintings, films, objects and photographs. Man Ray’s photographs employ similar photographic techniques to Kansuke Yamamoto’s work. A lot of his photographs use the photomontage technique layering some sort of imagery. The first photograph of Man Ray’s I have chosen is called Monument, our perception of the nude buttocks is changed by the rotated religious cross which serves as an almost phallic symbol, this creates quite an erotic picture, which is juxtaposed against the denotation of the religious cross. The photograph takes the form of a photomontage, and the close up shot blurs our perception of the buttocks creating a surreal effect. These techniques that Man Ray uses have inspired what my final project will look like.

The second of Man Ray’s techniques is his use of angle to bend dimensions much like Yamamoto does in his photographs. Man Ray’s images disorientate the spectator and push the boundaries of the conventional ways of seeing, thus encapsulating this view that Surrealism is attempting to replicate the world of dreams. The woman’s naked body often features in his work, Man Ray presents the body in different perspectives using close ups creating a surreal effect. Using self portraiture in my project could work as the project revolves around my own personal reflections of Kafka’s work and how I interpret it. Self Portraiture is typically seen in Surrealist work therefore it would fit in the context of my project.

Arturo Soto – Research

Arturo Soto is a Mexican photographer who currently resides in London. He has several projects under his belt, some are landscape projects, others are portraiture and social commentaries on the world we live in today. The first photograph from his project In The Heat, is a subjective depiction of the Panamanian landscape. In his project description he talks about his interest in the relationship between ‘landscape and the state of mind; the understanding of pictures as a reflection of experience’. What Soto is talking about is how each viewer reflects on the photograph differently, and if the same photographer were to take the same shot it wouldn’t necessarily have the same meaning due to the different state of minds and their respective relationships to the subject in the photograph. I think this statement will be especially important in my project and photographs, as my work will be subjective to the viewer, the allegorical nature of Kafka’s aphorisms mean that naturally different state of minds will reflect upon them differently. Soto then goes on to talk about John Szarkowski’s mirror and windows thesis. ‘In metaphorical terms, the photograph is seen either as a mirror–a romantic expression of the photographer’s sensibility as it projects itself on the things and sights of this world; or as a window–through which the exterior world is explored in all its presence and reality.’ (http://www.moma.org/pdfs/docs/press_archives/5837/releases/MOMA_1980_0040_43.pdf?2010) Will the work reflect a portrait of the artist who made it (mirror) or offer the view through a window, the world as we see it objectively.

Another project, Soto created was ‘Some Windows Later’, a collection of photographs from places that he has inhabited over the last 7 years from the his viewpoint looking out of windows at the everyday life that passes by. Windows frequently reappear in all of Arturo Soto’s work, and the idea behind the different perspective of looking through a window interests and I think that it would fit well with Kafka’s thoughts in The Zurau Aphorisms. I think the first photo of the object in front of a window with a closed blind is very interesting. The focus on the object along with the shadow cross on the blind gives the object a holy aura. The closed blind gives a sense of intrigue and mysteriousness about the shot and about what the photographer is thinking. I really like this project and it has a surrealist aspect to some of its photographs.

Film or Digital?

One of the main dilemma’s I am having is choosing whether to take the photographs for my project using a digital camera or a film camera. Some of the Surrealist photographers (Jerry Uelsmann, Kansuke Yamamoto, and Man Ray) that I have looked at so far have all used film to great effect.

Ideally, I would love to create something that is similar to what Jerry Uelsmann has achieved with his multi layered imagery. His techniques of combining negatives are fascinating but incredibly hard to replicate. For someone that has had no experience with using film camera before it’s certainly a risk to take using it for my final year project.

Another reason why I want to use film is the grain/noise that it naturally produces in the photos. This is evident through Kansuke Yamamoto’s photographs. This effect adds to the surrealist nature of the photographs, where as digital photography feels to real for photographs with surrealist tendencies.

As I said previously, main dilemma using film would be my lack of experience in handling film and being in a darkroom. The other reason is, film costs a lot of money which is something I do not have unfortunately.