Ori Gerhst

I don’t know if Ori Gerhst would accept the term conceptual artist because his work seems heavily formal. He creates incredibly beautiful photographs but the concepts are equally weighted. I think his work achieves the kind of balance that David Hockney talked about needing to create a great picture. I came across his work by chance going into a group exhibition in London called, ‘Twilight Photography in the Magic Hour’. This was a brilliant exhibition that I liked so much I bought the catalogue, something I’ve only done once.

Gerhst’s photographs from the Twilight exhibition titled, ‘Rear Window’ were all taken from the same view out of his flat window at different times of the day and year. These photos have no filter effects added to them. They are of the space just above London. The colours are the result of light and pollution trapped by the clouds. The photos highlight the difference between what we think we know and what is actually there. London is familiar but we rarely see it like this. I particularly think the composition is amazing. The amount of space, with very little detail grounding us to what is there, is so exciting. There seems to be so much space and possibility when you look up. The colours seem totally unrealistic but they do not look like they’ve been touched up with tacky editing. They seem unrealistic because we rarely see colours like this above our cities.

 Recently in the Stills Gallery in Edinburgh Gersht had a solo exhibition consisting of photographs and a film. They were shot in the Ukraine where his family had sought refuge from the Nazis. His work deals with time and memory. His photographs show the places where terrible atrocities happened. There are no traces in these photographs and in the places themselves of these events. The only things that remain are the trees and houses that were there at the time. His photographs show these houses and trees as if they hold memory. They existed through Nazi oppression and build up such history, living through every event. The photographs are beautiful and calm. Taken with long exposures, some are blurred and show a site loaded with history and its trace today.The film was of falling trees taken in a forest in the same area. It was almost like a photograph with the camera set still. It showed the tranquility of the area and all the slight rustlings and movement of the forest. Then the noises became louder and you heard large bangs of falling trees. Soon after the peace was returned until another falling tree hit the ground. It was to show how quickly order and peace seems to be returned after each incident. The event was only in you’re memory as there was no visual trace. In addition it proved that a tree in a forest surely does make a sound. A rather loud one. These conceptual elements are what make the work successful even though the photos and the film definitely have aesthetic elements. I feel the work is a good balance of both.

Conceptual Artists – Sophie Calle

I have had a total turn around in my idea about conceptual art. I used to almost completely dismiss it, but I didn’t know what it was about and I didn’t really want to. 

I’m looking at Sophie Calle, I really like her work. She is a conceptual artist in the sense that her concept leads her work. She uses photography mainly to document her work. Her work is very personal and she almost uses her life as her work. She uses projects or games that she wants to play and documents these events and actions. She has followed people, been followed, invited them into her bed, asked people about the worst time in their lives. She usually compiles very elegant books for each project.
I found out about her work though her exhibition in the Venice Bienalle where she displayed, ‘Take Care of Yourself’.

This title was taken from the end of a break-up email sent to her ending with those words. She took this advice literally by asking 102 women to read and examine the letter with respects to their own profession. There was a criminologist, lawyer, police captain, writer and actor among the many others. So that the writer would describe the letters style and the lawyer defends Calle’s ex-lover. These all appear as written texts and really great photos of each woman. The actor and singers were filmed. The work publicly displays her private life and its great to see honesty throughout her work.

Another work I’ve been able to see is her book, ‘ Exquisite pain’. This is another piece about a break-up. This is an earlier work dealing with the worst pain she and other people had experienced. She tells the story of a 92 day journey, away from her lover, through the east by train to Japan. She was given a grant and she decided to go somewhere uncomfortable for her somewhere she didn’t want to go, as a way to get the most out of the experience. She chose Japan as she had never wanted to go there and it was totally foreign to her no idea of the place and language. It was planned at the end of the three months that she would meet up with her lover in a hotel room in India. He had arranged it and when he didn’t arrive on the given date she was devastated. She received a phone call in that hotel room and new it was over. The book shows how she told people this story and asked them about when they hurt most. She asked around 92 friends and as she heard their stories her pain gradually dulled. The book shows her story becoming less and less emotional with each new story. These all are accompanied by a telling photograph.

 In, ‘Double Game’ her works are collated together and are very interestingly presented. The book is influenced by another called, ‘Leviathan’ . This is a piece of fiction by a writer called Paul Auster. In it he asked Sophie Calle if he could use some of her life to include in the book. For about seven or eight pages the character Maria takes on the life of Calle. Paul Auster adds his own rituals and games for his character. In, ‘Double Game’ Sophie Calle has three parts. She first of all takes on the roles Auster adds to her own character and makes them real. She follows his instructions for the chromatic diet and letters of the alphabet controlling a day. She eats only yellow food on a certain day, red, green, white in keeping with the book. She lives a day under the influence of the letter C. Spends all day at the cemetery at her father’s grave.

The second part of the book is the real life projects Calle has enacted and are used for the character of Maria in, ‘Leviathan’. These are fascinatingly original projects, totally exciting and enchanting. She plays around with privacy and peoples lives. She decided to stalk a man by chance in the street lost him shortly after, then later in the evening saw him at a party, overheard his plans to travel to Venice the next week. She took this as a sign that she should follow him. This took her to Venice for over a month. After tracking him down with a lot of time an effort she began photographing him in the street and would photograph the things he just photographed. Building up a relationship with him without talking to him. She discovered his likes and dislikes through where he would go and what he would do. Incredibly interesting and slightly creepy. I love her ways how her projects lead her life and if she wasn’t regarded as an artist she would still continue to do these projects irrespective of people knowing about them. I am extremely taken with one project in this part where she took it upon herself to dress a man she thought good-looking but poorly dressed. She did this by sending him a new item of clothing ever Christmas anonymously. This may be an on-going project and she has said she would love to be introduced to him when he was better dressed in his new clothes. I find it extremely interesting how she uses this surprise to better a stranger’s life without taking any credit for it. He would be completely perplexed and intrigued who would be sending him clothes but so happy to have this ritual each Christmas waiting for something new and exciting. Each mystery package bringing something new!

The third section of the book is documentation of Calle’s project dictated by Paul Auster. She asked him to give her instructions. He responded by giving her notes to beautify part of New York city. She decided to decorate and up-keep a phone box, placing note pads, pencils, flowers and a mirror, with other things. A generous project adding a little surprise and joy into people’s normal lives by something slightly out of the ordinary. The work is documented by photographs of the both and written responses on the sheets of paper, comments on crumpled paper.

I find all these projects exciting and interesting because they are all actions, ideas and instincts that Calle really goes with. She doesn’t hold back and lets the projects take her places, literately. They unfold in ways she couldn’t imagine when she starts and this is exciting to read about. Her photographic documentation really helps illustrate the stories and brings them to life. She is daring which is very inspiring.

Celebrities

That them off the tele?