Daybook

There are contemporary photographers whose works interest me and I take note of what they’re doing and compare the involvement of my work with theirs, such as JoAnn Verburg’s landscape and conceptual diptychs/triptychs, or Olivo Barbieri’s aerial photographs. Often I encounter these contemporary photographers’ work through my daily research on internet from galleries or museum collections.

As interesting as many contemporary artists’ works appear to me, I find it common to today’s art practice that many photographic works are too slick or too polished that there’s a general family resemblance among different artists’ work. Most works don’t address their strength through a persistent movement over time with integrated visual structure that represents the uniqueness of the photographic medium both on physical and the mental levels developed by the photographer. On the contrary, the merit goes to the technique and often the technique lures the viewers’ eyes so much that the allure of the lovely image itself stops its accomplishment there and couldn’t go further, deeper.

Although some artist’s work engaged with specific issue or theme consistently, there seem more similar works repeating what the artist is already good at than a further dialectic relationship between then and now of the artist’s work over time. It’s easy to shy away from further self-imposed challenge if your works are well-edited in commercialized and professional manner suited for market success. What interest me in contemporary artists’ work remains interesting but as I go forth to study them more, there’s little to gain from them. They’re interesting and that is all.

I’m looking for something that is ambitious to become a master than a successfully recognized artist in the market. I’m looking for a strong work that excites and challenges me to want to make something as good as it. I’m looking for artist who consistently works on similar theme or issue and is willing to further his/her direction implied in his/her already established so called style or accomplishment.

I am pleased to find out the newest works of Ray Metzker-Singular Sensation at Laurence Miller gallery (November 1, 2007 – January 12, 2008). Working on photography for over fifty years, he retains the same strength. Stephen Shore or Ralph Gibson whose works were once relentless in their vision of making fine photography, but now in their recent commercial works, the contamination of market driven style become obvious. It’s encouraging and exciting for me to see a master photographer who is now old and who is still working, not only that, he follows through what was implied in his earlier photographic involvement-dealing with “the abstract quality through representation” via specific urban-scape and landscape, which is extended to become today’s new series of photo-montage and collage. The new series that diminishes the object identity by way of the camera-less process, however, is not abstraction for its own sake but involves the implication of a representational world (landscape or exterior space especially) sometimes created through the nature of the medium without organic life, such as “Photogram # 53″.

Metzker’s consciousness of the work of light was an influence of the New Bauhaus at Institute of Design at Chicago. What I value in his work is his long-term engagement with the basic “light-box” lesson he learned at ID. That by observing how light transits through the light-box device, students at ID learned to see the Chicago city itself as a giant light box with the high rise buildings as the wall and the sun the source of light. His early works already showed his excellent vision in working with the traveling light in the city. Later in his landscape series, he further explored “light as form” through a series of harshly lit foliage photographs in which the shape of foliage, although recognizable, tend to decompose to become something else that foliage and its capacity of transparency becomes the vehicle of light drawing. Its meaning can only be understood via photographic medium.

While Metzker’s earlier works were visually complex and extreme in its internal structure, the new series Singular Sensation on view at Lawrence Miller gallery presents a simpler internal structure and a mellow visual note. The vision of this series, however, continues his abstract aesthetics by means of representational content. The cameraless printmaking results in works that are more tonal and closer to Chinese painting. This is more apparent in his photomontages in which there are more space intervals to breathe in between the liquid forms. Again, the use of photogram process further his contemplation of luminous form.

The technique of photo-montage is nothing new at all. But just by how well he welds it into his continuing involvement is the most important thing for me to learn. The technique is critical to his exploration but he is able to reach his goal without letting the technique takes over his visual success. Also, here we don’t see any trace of Man Ray or Moholy-Nage. Metzker’s own long-term individual engagement on the same issue equips him the knowledge and vision that are exclusively his own to create works that are both original and profoundly visual.

In general, my work is related to Metzker’s concern of using light as form. In my Juxtaposition series, it is slightly different because I put more emphasis on plane relationship by extracting object as form from interior or exterior space. A new approach, however, is evolved after a period of time’s emphasis on crisp division of space. I find my new approach shares a similar approach to Metzker’s new series where representational forms are visible but their identities are diminished to the point that forms melt into the other and the unified photograph is about the abstract rhythm of forms/colors in which object identity becomes subdued. My new direction is a further extraction from the representational world, with the same diptych/triptych format, but concentrates more on the ebb and flow between forms. It’s a natural development when working on distinct forms with crisp edges that there’s an urge to loosen up and explore how loose my work can be without loosing visual tension. Color cast is still a significant device I use in this new direction.

In terms of size, the size of Metzker’s photographs happen to see similar size with mine. To me, his work cannot be viewed in giant format as that would prevent viewer to step forward to appreciate the dotted or fragmented forms of light or getting close to the contemplated visual experience provided in this new series. That a size within 16×20 range is just right for the viewer to grasp the unity at first sight and then come closer to listen to the visual flow within each photograph, whether it’s the active high-pitched tones or notes dropped down in interval like scattered rain. I have the same consideration of how my work should be viewed in terms of size. For some artwork, “scale” is the key to complete its visual structure although many artists tend to overwhelm viewer with hard to swallow scale as a way to arouse viewer’s distant admiration resulted from immediate physical threat.

Personally, I’m more interested in Metzker’s photo collages in this exhibition as it is part of what I’ve been doing for some time. He used exposed and torn prints to create something that looks further away from photography yet revealed from the abstract collage construction we see the photographic representation of organic vegetation, figure, or faces. Sticking to the dual quality of photographic medium-”abstract yet representational” at the same time, the construction of photo collage enable the artist, including me, to learn more about what it is like to see things come together on the surface without the burden of object identity through the viewfinder of camera. As this visual discipline itself teaches the artist how to see beyond the object identity, when the artist returns to camera work, the artist sees sharper and deeper beyond the surface and the artist gains visual freedom to use his/her vision confidently to create visually profound artwork.

This is the lesson I learn from artist like Metzker whose work reflects the artist’s single minded pursuit in learning to create higher value artwork. There’s patience, persistence, and humbleness in such an artist’s devotion, and the result is a stand alone work of art cultivated over time.

※ Reference: Ray Metzker Images Source: Laurence Miller Gallery, New York.