Thomas Ruff and more alternative portrait ideas...

Thinking about more alternative portraiture I could work on I thought it would be worth it to take a look at Thomas Ruff's work.

We all know him, we've all seen them and to be honest, as stand alone images I never really appreciated these photographs. However, seeing the series as a whole and now understanding the workload that has gone into them has made me feel differently about them.

I admire how Thomas Ruff has perfected the way he photographed this series, at the beginning there were different background, different poses etc and then he narrowed it down to a uniform formula; same background, same pose, same lack of facial expression...

The only thing that gives us any insight to these people is the clothes that they have chosen/been given to wear.

For my portraits, I would like to shed light on some of the uncelebrated parts of the body, some parts we may forget about. Rather than focus on the face I would firstly like to take a series of images of the back of people's heads. Contradictory to Ruff's portraits, I would like to supply the clothing, I would like these images to be as uniform as possible, so why not have an actualy uniform. The subject/person will be given a black t-shirt to wear and stand infront of a white background, facing the wall, back to the camera. The use of black and white throughout will create a connection through the series and will also act as a positive aesthetic... hopefully.

I'm interested in doing this because when we view a portrait, our eyes automatically dart to a person's eyes, taking this out of the equation it would be interesting to see how an audience reacts with the 'portrait'. It is possible that the audience may feel uncomfortable, almost like a peeping tom as they do not have that visual connection with the person's eyes. The final photographs would be of a large scale, so that the audience is forced to view something that we would usually gloss over and not take too much care of interest over.

I have also been thinking more about the private/public aspect of portraiture and would like to transfer this idea to people. I like the idea that any orifice on a person's body can be a public and also a private place. For example one's ear is at most times on view and could be argued that it is a public space. However the inside of a person's ear is private, just like behind a front door of somebody's home.

SO! It would be great if I could get some volunteers for this. I have booked in a slot in the photographic studio for MONDAY 11TH APRIL at 3.00PM, any help would be greatly appreciated, and as always all images will be anonymous and efforts will be rewarded with a chocolatey treat!

BOOM!

Another Blurb - 'My House'

Still in the making stages.. but got all my doors! some to still be re-done. going nuts.

Google Street View

Yes, I've been Google street-viewing near enough every street in Aberdeen to find my house (and others exactly like it). I'm limiting my search and collection only to buildings that appear just like the ones above. My specifications are the double windows, and garden at each side of the door. There's a lot of them without the garden, so I have to say I'm a little glad I don't have to photograph them all. Needless to say, even just photographing all of the other ones will be quite a task.

Today as I started on my mission I came across a gentleman that asked me what I was doing photographing his home, being a little hazy this morning I just said 'it's an art project, would you like me to delete the photo?' I was actually all too happy to do this because thankfully I'd taken another due to shoddy exposure. So I deleted it in front of him, but now I feel a little guilty and as I can't remember which one it was, I'll just have to keep it.

SO! So far I have found 19 more streets with 'My House' on it, and I've already photographed 6 streets. I guess I better get out there and get snapping eh.

Ming

Blurbing it up

I have made a Blurb book for Every Front Door and Garden on my Street.

Unfortunately I have to order a copy before other are able to view (and if they choose to.. order) it.  So apparently I have 15 days to do this..

Until then here is a little preview..

Price will be £16.95 for a softcover (recommended so that you can use it as a flip-book)

OCD and Art.. Kim Rugg

Kim Rugg from Cool Hunting on Vimeo.

In researching the psychology of having (or not having) routines and structure, I came accross this lady after doing a bit of OCD article hunting.

Similar to the idea of deconstructing objects like the artist a few posts below, Kim Rugg deconstructs each article, headline and title in each newspaper, re-arranging the letters in alphabetical order. Again, a very long and painstaiking procedure. I'm very interested in the idea of taking the time to reconstruct and upset the balance of things. Is this adding structure to chaos or bringing chaos to structure!


Some Quirks of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

"I'm not sure where to begin. I have Purell/Germ X in my pocket at all times, I count my steps constantly, especially stairs. When I run, I count. I count the sprinkles on cupcakes and stuff. My Crayon box (when I was younger) was in the original order that it came from the factory. When I dial phone numbers, I dial once, then hang up before it starts to ring, then dial again, just to make sure I have it right. If is misspell a word, I must re-type the entire thing, I can't just fix the one part. All the clocks I have are synchronized, but they get off in about a weeks time. I can't have dirty dishes or laundry anywhere. And I love symmetry. Things must be centered. I get the ruler out!
I checked homework and tests over and over. I count to 17 when I was my hands to make sure they're clean, then I do it again. Shoelaces, draw ties, etc, must be even lengths at all times. I only stop reading on odd numbered pages of books. I check the screen door and front door twice before leaving. I always make sure my toaster is unplugged. I'm always worried about the future, my family, everything. And finally, I don't like things to be changed up. I like to have a set schedule, with no changes, at all. I don't like to have to adapt to new things all over again. " - anonymous