Something went wrong. How to ruin a photo and create a masterpiece
2019
Conceptual art convincingly demonstrates: breaking is sometimes building
Sometimes the line between “ruin” and “invent” becomes so elusive that attempts to make a distinction lose all meaning. And since the very existence of conceptual art is undoubtedly the most vivid proof of the contradictory and natural “giddiness” of the creative process, it is up to it to turn first of all in search of an argument in favour of what breaking is sometimes building.
Below you will find five examples of what we could call conceptual “spoiling” of photos. All these examples clearly demonstrate the fact that art often begins exactly where “something went wrong”.
The first object of our attention is the project titled Experiments of the Ukrainian artist Zhanna Kadyrova. In this work, the author deforms the panoramic images of Kyiv, applying spots of nitric acid on their surface. As a result, we see something like explosions of artillery shells over peaceful high-rise buildings in the residential areas of the city. Such an association is quite logical for the residents of contemporary Ukraine – the work was created at the height of military operations in the east of Ukraine, in 2014.
Meanwhile, we face only traces of the chemical reaction, simply, – spoiled photographs, which, however, encouraged to reflect on much. For example, about the order of things as such, whether it is material things and their properties, or the fragility of the peaceful coexistence of people.
Mykola Ridnyi applies something similar artistic gesture in his series Blind Spot. It is noteworthy that this work was also created in 2014. According to the author himself, “the propaganda created by the war machine leads to the blindness of society.” Mykola Ridnyi literally represents this blindness of a person in an information war situation: images in photos are practically inaccessible to the viewer through a dense layer of black paint that covers about 80-90% of the image. As a result, we find ourselves in a paradoxical situation when the visual experience of viewing photos coincides with the inability to see the image.
There is a completely different sound for photographs of the series Dare alla Luce (Shed light) by Canadian artist Amy Friend. In the works of this series, the author uses a technique reminiscent of experiments with the material properties of the canvas of Lucio Fontana. Vintage photos bought at the flea market, Amy Friend pierces with a fine needle. As a result, of this unpretentious manipulation, there is a rather interesting effect: the light that seeps through the tiny holes left by the needle fills the image with mystical light. It can be said that here the deformation of the material carrier of the image serves to create new and rather distinctive aesthetics.
Unlike Amy Friend, who modifies ready-made photos, the French artist Aliki Braine deforms the images even before they are printed. First of all, Braine is interested in photography as a material object, and all the diversity of her projects is intended to emphasize this materiality – as opposed to the well-established notion of photography as a neutral representation of reality. For example, in the works of the series “Hunting”, the artist makes holes in the negatives of photographs. As a result, we observe an effect diametrically opposed to what was seen in Amy Friend: black spots appear on photos that correspond to holes in their negatives.
Unlike Amy Friend, who modifies ready-made photos, the French artist Aliki Braine deforms the images even before they are printed. First of all, Braine is interested in photography as a material object, and all the diversity of her projects is intended to emphasize this materiality – as opposed to the well-established notion of photography as a neutral representation of reality. For example, in the works of the series “Hunting”, the artist makes holes in the negatives of photographs. As a result, we observe an effect diametrically opposed to what was seen in Amy Friend: black spots appear on photos that correspond to holes in their negatives.
Text: Julia Voloshyn – Gallerist, Voloshyn Gallery
Original: style.nv.ua
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