Summery Of The Aegean Sea, Pillion 1990 - Horoshi Sugimoto Essay By Dominic Willsdon ( Kirsty Brown)

Within this Short piece of text I will be talking about Dominic Willsdon’s Short essay on the Aegean Sea, Pillion 1990 a photograph taken by Hiroshi Sugimoto a Japanese photographer. The photograph was originally taken from a large set of other seascapes images; Hiroshi has been creating this set of images since 1980 the shots were taken from multiple places around the globe. The set of Images have all been technically shot in the same way, with the same thought process. Dominic tells us that “sugimoto has travelled to different places to produce essentially  the same image but in a number of variations’’

Aegean Sea, Pillion 1990

This one particular image is shot in monochrome and the horizon line splits the image in half equally between the sea and the sky but somehow made them merge together, it’s like there is so beginning and end. The shot has no other distractions in the shot. For example there are no people in the background, no weather affecting the image it is completely clear as it only shows the sea and the sky.

He  gets a different feel from viewing the image, absorbing what it has to offer, as people may think it just a photograph of the sea and sky but if you look into it a bit closer you can tell that the photo has a certain amount of “discipline” to create an image with such texture to it,  as the sea and sky has a high contrast between them and the sea also holds a fairly amount of grain and the focal length is a bit blurred as the mist falls within the sky. 

References:  

Howarth, S and Alexander, M. D. 2005

Singular images: Essay on Remarkable Photographs. New York: Aperture 

Aegean Sea, Pillion 1990 - Horoshi Sugimoto Essay By Dominic Willsdon 

The Jeremy Deller Exhibition - All That Is Solid Melts Into Air Kirsty Brown

All That Is Solid Melts Into Air

The Jeremy Deller exhibition

The exhibition took place at Manchester Art Gallery; the work has been collected over a long period of time by Jeremy Deller. He explores the material we still have that is connected to the industrial revolution and those of today, showing a link between the industrial revolution and modern day life. The exhibition consisted of historical paintings, old journals, memorabilia, music, banners, objects and films. I found myself looking at what I consider some fantastic work, with other pieces not so interesting, but that is down to personal opinion. Overall, it is an eye opening experience for the viewer.

I found myself attached to the first opening painting, ‘The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah’ painted by John Martin in 1852. The painting looks as if it is 'hell' due to the fire and people running away from the flames, but really the painting shows the country changing due to the industrial revolution.

There was one piece of work that I particularly found fascinating; an old vintage jukebox which was free for the viewer to pick and play songs. The jukebox featured industrial sounds such as working men, glass breaking and sounds from the working mills, as well as folk music. Behind the jukebox was a painting of an explosion which I feel represents the 'big bang' of the industrial revolution. It reminded me of Martin's painting as both pieces of work display an emotional attachment to the industrial revolution even though they are different; one a piece of artwork, the other a machinery device with music. They both equally demonstrate their views about the hard times of the industrial revolution and the lives which were affected.