Jan Groover

Jan Groover

Groover was noted for her use of emerging colour technologies and her formalist still life photographs of household objects. Although originally a painter, she moved onto photography, stating that "With photography, I didn't have to make things up, everything was already there."

It was in 1978 she turned to her kitchen for new ideas. She used subjects and objects familiar to her, everyday objects she could arrange any way she wanted - experimenting with various combinations until a relationship of shapes, colours and spaces pleased her. These were taken with a 4x5 view camera, enlarged as 16x20" prints. 

It is written that the pictures resonate as subtle documents of feminism, but it is the unusual beauty the pictures hold I wish to take from these photographs. The cascading shadows and soft tones in many of the images definitely add to the aesthetic beauty, but (personally) there is a mystery to the images that add depth to the beauty.

Still Life/Dutch Still Life

Still Life

In the simplest of terms, still life is a work of art that depicts (mostly) inanimate objects, usually commonplace objects either natural or man-made (fruit, food, flowers, plants - glasses, books, vases etc). Still life gives the artist freedom of arrangement, therefore choice of composition, texture, colours, layering, lighting and tones. Early still-life examples often contained religious and allegorical symbolism relating to the objects. Hans Memling's example:

Flowers in a Jug, circa 1485
Oil on panel, 28.5 x 21.5 cm

Still life developed majorly in the Netherlands, particularly towards the end of the 16th century. Protestant Netherlands broke aware from the Catholic Church and the use of religious matter and symbolism was coming to an end in Dutch art. Still life was still a popular art 'category', but being such a broad term it split off into several 'sub-categories'. 
The most known being: Floral, Breakfast, Vanitas, Banquet. 

Floral
The Dutch East India Company (founded in 1602) had a 21-year trade with Asia. Flowers were a large part of this trade, being brought to Holland and were a symbol of Dutch pride being a part of trade. Each flower had its own symbolic meaning and were chosen in paintings for this, rather than their appearance.

Floral Still Life, Rachel Ruysch, 1704

In this particular image, this sort of arrangement would be impossible as the flowers were in bloom at different stages of the year. Again each flower has its own significance, whilst insects were painted which also had their own meaning, tied into Christianity. Bee = passion. Its stinger = Christ's crown of thorns. Butterfly = resurrection/soul. Flowers = fleeting nature of life, from buds to blooms to withering. 

A few modern still life examples

After the Walk, Martin Zalba
http://500px.com/martinzalba

Having not found much information on this photographer, it's harder to guess the nature of a photograph and why it was even taken. Only given the title do I have some context to go on. With multiple textures, soft lighting and warm/rich colours do our eyes and mind immediately deviate to still life imagery. It's subject matter a little different however, more humble with worn socks and boots, the images tell the story of its owner.

Still Life, Anatoly Che
http://500px.com/AnatolyChe

Again, having not found much information on this photographer, the same applies. But we can see the obvious connection to still life painting, soft lighting, natural objects and objects of beautiful shape and texture. A simple painting technique is to have one main source/direction of light, with then added subtleties and highlights. Here the photographer has applied this to the scene.



http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2012/03/15/in-pictures-3-great-examples-of-still-life-photography/

Linus Lohoff

Linus Lohoff
http://linuslohoff.com
http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2012/03/14/still-life-photography-linus-lohoffs-constructed-pictures/

A photographer very much inspired by the works of Erwin Wurm, who transformed everyday objects into art. With this series The Constructed Picture, he was looking for great contrast with minimalism - so focused on obscurity with minimal detail and great use of colour for impact. 

"Minimum effort – maximum effect."

The use of household/mundane objects follow my current idea to transform their typical use for artistic means. Visually, the images are bold, modern with studio lighting used. I shall have to see which I am to prefer, studio lighting or natural.

Still life photography/Dutch Still Life

Still life's roots come from the romanticism of traditional paintings and their techniques. During the 17th century, Dutch painting created a specialist form of still life and "raised it to the state of high/fine art". Often showing layers of food, wine, game spread amongst fine clothes, filling the frame with richness. Combinations of texture, warm colour, definitions between highlights and sombre shadows. The market of these paintings was aimed towards the wealthy looking to decorate their fine houses. 

The subjects are often simple, mundane perhaps. But with the treatment the objects are given these familiar objects are rendered special. Apply this to photography and at the start, much like the painter, the photographer is presented with a blank canvas to fill. It's best that the photographer builds up the scene themselves, aware of the shapes, textures, colours and tones that will fill up the scene. With the additions of lighting arrangements and various exposure possibilities/techniques, then post-production work, there is much to think about. 

What's to be learnt from this? The value of composition, lighting and harmony within the frame. 

http://www.crhfoto.co.uk/stillife.htm

Weiss/Fischli

Weiss/Fischli

Peter Fischei and David Weiss were an artistic duo that had been collaborating since 1979, working with a variety of mediums - film and photography, art books, sculptures and multimedia installations. Their work adapted objects and situations from everyday life and placed them in an artistic context - often using humour and irony. 


The Equilibres (1984-1987)

The photographs are a series of images of household objects arranged to form carefully balanced assemblages. The set-ups were eventually incorporated into the very celebrated film The Way Things Go (1986-1987), a thirty-minute lasting chain reaction of an assortment of objects and components reacting in a domino-like effect. The film's humour lies in the deliberate misuse of these objects, they are performing roles outside their normal function. 

Lorenzo Vitturi

Lorenzo Vitturi
http://www.lorenzovitturi.com/
http://www.foam.org/visit-foam/calendar/2013-exhibitions/foam-3h-lorenzo-vitturi


The Precarious Condition of Life

A Dalston Anatomy

Dalston Anatomy - an ode to all the pleasures of London's busy Ridley Road Market. Vitturi spent much time at the market taking pictures, making sculptures and creating collages with materials and objects he found among the debris of the market - rearranging their form, painting parts. This plays with the combination of sculpture and photography, painting and collage. He also investigated the effect of passing time and captured its transformation and decay. 

The sculptures mimic the organic and temporary nature of the market, and by what they endure before they diminish. He focuses on the abstract but universal language of shapes, colours and composition. 



http://paper-journal.com/dalston-anatomy/

Precarious and humorous sculpting's, straight portraits mixed with portraits overlayed with chalk, beads, fruit - parts of the market. Very stylised and subjective. 

Reflective thoughts

Upon reviewing my work and research so far, it seems to lack some footing. Although I aim to photograph these homes, in a sense document them in this abstractive style, it still feels like it needs some extra application. The images were 'OK', abstractive and soft in tone and lighting; and although achieving what I was after, visually, I feel the projects incentive needs something else. 

Some research has given me more incentive to take to Still Life. With Sarah Palmers' series The Village of Reason, she searches for tranquility and reason amongst the tumult of contemporary life, but at the same time acknowledges the imminent chaos that exists within it. This series in particular emerged not within the usual means that traditional photographic projects are born from; rather it emerged from what she reads and discovers about the world, and from what she brings back to her studio.

The objects appear to be random, and photographed with minimalist style. To me, the images thus are presented bluntly, but they obviously carry some sort of metaphor to be solved, much like a poem. As for labelling a photographic style? Many say its a mixture of straight and experimental photography...
( http://www.featureshoot.com/2013/06/sarah-palmers-the-village-of-reason-searches-for-tranquility-amongst-chaos/
http://constructofthemind.com/2013/09/15/sarah-palmer-how-to-disappear-completely/ )
... and I agree. I particularly shine to the mix, especially when playing with conceptual and abstract themes.

Connecting my current work to this new twist, I still aim to visit these homes but my angle will play on Still Life. So, focusing on objects in particular - e.g ornaments, objects on shelves. Obviously it'd be a struggle to ask a stranger to take their possessions out of their home, so using the natural available light and positioning will be my first objective. If I'm lucky enough to take objects out, I will be using the studio and use artificial lighting. Between location/home shoots I will be using my own personal/family "household"-esque objects of mundane nature, photographing in the Still Life style. 


The Village of Reason fits, perhaps awkwardly, into various photographic genres, with images ranging from the seemingly straight to the experimental. The possible disjointedness of these studies is purposeful: I hope that the viewer will question the connections and contradictions within the works as I present them. The series asks questions but does not necessarily provide answers. It is rooted in metaphor and meant to be interrogated, as one would read a poem. Herein, one can view desires both personal and universal, as well as uncertainties and doubts about femininity and identity.—Sarah Palmer

Interior shoot