Alec Soth is a photographer with not only an amazing sense of humor, but a strong dedication and yearning that drive the creation of his work. He began his lecture with a film of Lee Freelander's traveling photography. The short film was light and playful and showed the joys of creating work on the road. This idea of being able to move freely throughout the country driven by nothing but pure desire with no constraints or requirements is THE driving force behind a vast majority of Soth's work.
His method of traveling from photograph to photograph is also unique. Soth makes connections between subject matter through intellectual development. He takes a sheep's portrait and then relates that sheep to the study of dreams and sleep (counting sheep as you sleep), so he makes a portrait of a patient hooked up to a polysomnograph (a machine used during sleep to aid in detecting sleep disorders and research).
"Joshua, Angola State Prison, Louisiana" 2002
"Bonnie (with a photograph of an angel), Port Gibson, Mississippi" 2000
Because of his image development method, Soth's concept also changes throughout the birth of a series. For example, his series "Niagara" first began as an exploration of love and an interest in why people often travel to the Niagara Falls for wedding ceremonies or honeymoons. Later, he found his project evolving into the sexual exploration and "distrust of new passion."
"Two Towels" 2004
"Impala" 2005
"I can't go on like this" 2005
Soth describes his developed photo method as "photographing democratically" inspired by William Eggleston. Hearing him speak of his connections below the surface and simply photographing whatever he wants was inspiring. Trusting instinct (instead of planning) can lead to works of art.
http://www.alecsoth.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment