THE IMAGE AS QUESTION:

Transcription

1 PRESS RELEASE THE IMAGE AS QUESTION: AN EXPLORATION OF EVIDENTIAL PHOTOGRAPHY 27 SEPT - 26 NOV Rire faux (False laugh) from Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine, Dr. Gillaume Duchenne (de Boulogne)

2 September 11th, New York, NY 2001 Melanie Einzig Part of the fascination with all photography is that the medium is firmly grounded in the documentary tradition. It has been used as a record of crime scenes, zoological specimens, lunar and space exploration, phrenology, fashion and importantly, art and science. It has been used as proof of simple things such as family holidays and equally of atrocities taking place on the global stage. Any contemporary artist using photography has to accept the evidential language embedded in the medium.

3 Burnt filing cabinets, Iraqi National Archives, Baghdad, April, 2003 Simon Norfolk In this exhibition the Michael Hoppen Gallery exhibits a myriad of different images including 19th, 20th c. and contemporary works of art. Seemingly disparate these images have a shared gravitas, a weightiness that emanates from their documentary function. Many of the images were originally taken to provide empirical evidence of a theory or record of an event. Dislocated from their original context and distanced by time, they do not so much provide an answer, rather question the viewer afresh.

4 Cheat, the faculty of journalism of Moscow State University, 1984 Valery Khristoforov It is interesting that the majority of photographs in this exhibition were never intended as beautifully crafted or well-composed images. They were required to prove a point, solve a mystery or simply to inform with clarity. The identity of a face, the location of a cell, the shape of a skull as confirmation of evolution, the coaxial lighting down a gun to show the twist of the barrel. All these images were made to illustrate a fact. Even a picture of a Russian schoolgirl s calculus covered thighs provides amusing evidence of her cheating in a math s exam. The image

5 Plutario Fassi (1901-) and Fausto Manfredi (1904-) burgled the Comptoir Lyon-Allemand in November 1933 by drilling into the ceiling. Theft by an anarchist pair. Unknown Photographer was taken as proof of her misdemeanor but isolated from its original context, as with many of these images, it acquires a beauty and significance independent of it s original function. Most of these images once served a specific purpose, which has now passed. What therefore makes these disparate images still so important and also so collectable One understands very quickly how extraordinary some of these

6 Mexico City, ca The murder weapon! A jealous husband shot his wife and then her lover. I included the shadow; it reminded me of scenes in gangster movies. Enrique Metinides pieces are, not only from an informative point of view, but also aesthetically. Many are unique and the chances of them having been saved in good condition, for posterity is often just pure chance. The minds that thought up ways to record this evidence, sometimes in the face of cultural or academic adversity, was also an achievement. If one looks at Jules Etienne Marée s series of the naked man walking. This is possibly the earliest giff in the world! What he was able to do is still being practiced today in cinema special effects.

7 THE IMAGE AS QUESTION: AN EXPLORATION OF EVIDENTIAL PHOTOGRAPHY One of a pair of American Police identity line-up photographs, 1/5/1933 (with and without hats) Unknown Photographer Equally, the photographs Francis Bacon used to create some of his great canvases could have ended up in a waste paper bin, but are here for all to see. Scholars need this material to work with and it is this search for the truth that leads us neatly to where we are today with a plethora of fascinating pictures to sample, savor and marvel at. 27 SEPT - 26 NOV FOR ALL PRESS ENQUIRIES: press@michaelhoppengallery.com // daisy@dh-pr.com // +44 (0)