Part 16 Andy Warhol was far ahead of his time, in both the deathliness of his Polaroid portraits and in his use of the camera as a kitsch object. Other photographers found potential in similar Polaroid deathliness, but without such kitsch elements at play. Walker Evans in particular found a new dimension added to his own style of portraiture when he used the Polaroid rather … Continue reading Presence, or Polaroid Ghosts (Part 17)
Part 4 The French philosopher René Descartes believed that his recollections were evidence he was not dreaming. He knew he was not asleep and merely creating the world in his mind’s eye because he was surrounded by things possessing a context that he was aware of personally. ‘But when I perceive things of which I clearly know both the place they come from and that … Continue reading Presence, or Polaroid Ghosts (Part 5)
I was wandering around the National Gallery recently when I came across Jan Trek’s Still Life (1648) and its wonderful rendering of ephemera. Within it sits a skull, some books, manuscripts, the helmet of a suit of armour and other such seemingly random objects. I had been thinking about similar paintings for some time, not least because several books of interest (specifically Robert Burton’s The … Continue reading Still life in Margaret Tait’s My Room (1951)
Celluloid Wicker Man 