Lecture 12: Still Life and Constructed Images

To-Do Date: Tue Apr 20 2021 03:59:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

 

 

Photograph:  Thomas Demand Control Room, 2011

Everyone is familiar with still life paintings.  However, when it comes to still life photography the term suggests a broader range of subjects and techniques.  Some photographers like Jeff Wall and Gregory Crewdson recreate scenes that they have witnessed or from their imagination, while others construct dioramas and small scale objects on a "table top" for photographing.

Still life photography, often called "table top still life" or "constructed images", describes  a way of photographing in which the photographer stages the elements and plans everything that is depicted.  

Along with Jan Groover, Links to an external site. Links to an external site.who Emma introduced us to in her photo hero assignment, other notable constructed image photographers include:

• Thomas Demand: Links to an external site.   Don't be fooled, all of the photographs you see were made from full scale (life size) models made using only paper!  Demand makes the sets, photographs them, then destroys the sets.  The photograph is the only record of the scene.  Yes, the photo at the top of this section by Demand is of a full scale scene made entirely of paper.
• Links to an external site.Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber: Links to an external site.  I have posted a video of her artist talk in the required video section for this week.  She talks about her inspirations and the sources behind her work with Gerber.
• Barbara Ciurej and Linsday Lochman: Links to an external site.  Processed Views:  Surveying the Industrial Landscape   Links to an external site.For this series the duo recreated photographs from the historical western US survey photographs of Carleton Watkins Links to an external site. with processed food.
• David Leventhal: Links to an external site.  Turned his passion for collecting toys into his life's work.
• Jeff Wall: Links to an external site.  Working with a cast and crew he stages scenes that represent interactions he has seen between people on the street.
• Gregory Crewdson: Links to an external site.  Another photographer that works more like a movie director.
• Sandy Skoglund: Links to an external site.  Incredible work!  Her photographs are of room size scenes made from food and paper mache sculptures.  She also makes smaller table top sets.