Richard Wentworth

Richard Wentworth

Has played a large role in New British Sculpture since the 1970's. His work circles the idea of objects and their use, a part of our every-day experience. He has steered away from the traditional notion of sculpture, as well as photography. Transforming and manipulating objects into another work of art, converting (subverting?) their original function, breaking their conventional use/classification. The sculptural arrangements play with the notion of the ready-made and the juxtaposition go objects that carry no relation to one another. 

Making Do and Getting By

Ongoing photographic series, documenting the everyday. Paying attention to objects, placement and geometry, with occasional placement and uncanny situations that often go unnoticed. 

Caledonion Road, London, 2007

C Print

31.6 x 48 cm

Salcey iron - edits

I wanted to bring in the use of different objects this time (rather than testing with balloons). Household objects that seem mundane but outside its usual habitat. It follows suit of the images I had taken with the vacuum earlier in the project, to follow juxtaposition. I had aimed to capture passers by within frame but few people were around the area on this day. 

On their own the images are somewhat interest, the setting continues to act as a plinth/stage. The below images appears better balanced and I believe it is the set-up of the object that assists in its mysteriousness. Set to its side, folded and leaning against the wall of the walkway, it is hard to translate the image to much sense. Perhaps to those who do not know what it is, it may take a closer glance to find out. 

I had attempted with other objects but they simply did not work as I had wanted, they looked too forced, too set-up. I try to keep some ominous behaviour in my images, so this is why it didn't correlate well with the rest of the project. 

I had wished to place the ironing-board in stranger situations, hanging in tree branches higher above the ground. But there was the danger of it falling back onto ourselves or not balancing at all. I had the idea of perhaps photoshopping the images but I ideally want to avoid fake images for the sake of the authenticity of the project.

I had one attempt that was less dangerous. In my opinion it works well, it is strange, perhaps amusing. Not only a bizarre setting for the object but strange placement too. I had showed this image to peers however and it had much less impact to them in comparison to the rest of the project so far. They understood the image but still much preferred my other work. So, listening to the audience I shall end this idea and carry forward with my other ideas. 

Salcey forest iron - contact sheet

Interim (draft) presentation

Another continual overview of the work produced so far. I included some experiments which I particularly did not like, they were just made to experiment with another potential 'object' to use. The images did not impress (as expected), but I found that no other images sparked as much interest/attention as the red shelf photographs did. Perhaps I should intend to create a series just with this object? 

Salcey forest red - edits

I knew of a place that would make for an interesting "plinth" - Salcey Forest walkway. The corridor decking is a beautiful walkway in the treetops and makes for a surreal setting - something I personally haven't seen much of elsewhere. 

Again, the colour continues to contrast charmingly against the background. Neutral tones of wood and tree branches against this bold, primary (man-made) red. 

The shelf here acts almost as a divide between halves of the frame, perhaps I could use it as a complete divide in a future shoot?

Still photographing close and further away, they have different impacts depending on the composition. The closer I shoot, the more the shelf should be used as a tool for composition (e.g - splitting the frame, used to compliment the forms that surround it), and the further away it is it simply is used as a sculptural form within the frame. 

Taking note from a previous shoot (on the beach), I remembered the shelf needn't always be upright to create a curious photograph. Here it's acting almost as a gate, blockage? The use of the object now completely changes, not only just some sculptural object in juxtaposed setting. Now it is not only that, but use for something else. 

Another image of my partner, here making sure the object is stable before shooting. His stature is fairly ominous in this image, looming over the unit. I must admit it does look a tad cliche, but it still works.

Further away I think our eyes are too transfixed on the walls rather than the red shelf here, the above image works better - being more balanced. 

Salcey forest red - contact sheet

Franco Fontana

Franco Fontana

Most of all interested in the interplay of colours. The images are original and vibrant. The compositions are raw, to the bone - lines, shapes and forms are all of primary vision. The simple landscapes remind me of the important use of the frame, how it can change the art within the frame. We know the world exists beyond it, and cleverly the act of limiting the view, only seeing a fraction of the fields, we still get a sense of the immensity of the landscape.

The sense of scale often comes from a tree in his landscape photographs, though we are at a loss as to how to use this scale - how large is that tree? 

"I try to isolate in space and time all that is normally mixed up with an infinity of details. Extracting a few essential elements from the entirety that presents itself to the human eye is one of my inner requirements."