| Ari Bader-Natal • home • photography • |
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Viewing Sculpture |
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Photographs of sculptures are rarely visually engaging. While sculptures are generally created to depict a subject, photographs of sculptures traditionally treat them as objects. This practice seems to be motivated by the need to represent these works of art in print, ideally without attaching interpretational biases. Achieving this is straightforward with regards to two-dimensional art works, but becomes non-trivial for sculpture and other three-dimensional media. Why does this attempt at objectivity present a problem? Because photography, in general, is far from objective. Every photograph is a subjective choice: of time, angle, exposure, content, etc. Even the full-frame, head-on, "bias-free" photograph is a subjective choice that influences the experience of the viewer. Unfortunately, the influence of this particular style often serves to distance the viewer from the subject. (Notably, this is true for all such photographs, not just those of sculptures.) What is a better alternative? Rather than striving for objectivity, allow subjective photographs. Ideally, a photographer should treat the subject of the sculpture as they treat any other photographic subjects. The results, I believe, are more interesting and visually engaging. The following series of images were made with these ideas in mind. [View Images] Ari Bader-Natal, updated 11.27.2002 |
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