Monday 3 October 2011

DIANE ARBUS

As I was off over the Summer - student life is a difficult one to live. I thought I would take the time and go to London. I visited the Tate because Diane Arbus had an exhibition. I was looking forward to seeing her work as actual prints as I have only seem them in books and internet.

When we arrived I was instantly drawn to the image, The  Boy with Toy Hand Grenade. It is a bit disturbing to look at. Along with many of her images, that is what she is mainly remembered for. She caused a lot of confrontation and her typology on 'Freaks'. People's opinions are varied. Some say she took advantage of the situation and others say she was simply educating people. I can see both sides of the story, down to the way she portrayed them to be, with the lighting, black and white photography.
Very gloomy images. She wanted to be someone else, she wasn't happy with herself or who she was.



The layout of the exhibition could have been better to be honest. There were 3 small rooms. The biggest prints couldn't be larger than 12x8.
The frames were cream and the prints mounted on white card.
Overall I would say the visit was a disappointment, I wasn't inspired from the exhibition.

However, there were other exhibitions going on and I went and had a nose.

I came across a photographer's work interested me. Boris Mikhailov. He did a series called 'Red'.  There were a lot of images on the wall. Every image had the colour red in them. It was interesting.






I liked the layout of the exhibition, it was modern and caught my eye.
It inspired me.

I think the layout and the way the exhibition is seen is very important. Size does matter! Wheeey!!!
No seriously it does. If it is a large print, you feel part of the photo. You can really get in there and see it. If it is small you generally see everyone start to, lean in and squint to see the image.

Make an impact.

www.trevpayne.co.uk