Saturday, October 8, 2011
Howard Schatz
The human body is a subject that has been approached by artists for as long as humans have existed. Artists well known for this subject are often praised with, “You’ve captured the beauty of the human body.” This clichéd phrase seems pretty empty to me, and I would argue that what artists really highlight is the formal aesthetics of the body which lead viewers to our own idealized imaginings. The examples of Howard Schatz’s work I chose illustrate this point very well. These photographs aren't portraits to me in the sense that they tell me little about the actual person. Their strongest points are their form, composition, and lighting. The mood they portray (i.e. tense, elegant, euphoric, etc.) allow our imaginations to superimpose narrative. The first photo reads as a magician because the shadows across her body seem so physically tangible it’s as if she’s conjured them. The second photo instantly reads as a story of lovers, and the third an isolated struggle of some sort. I would politely question those who dismiss these photos as merely portraits of dancers.
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This work is great! I love the moments he captured.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how elegant something so powerful (muscles, strength, movement, etc) can look. These images are in my opinion some of the rare types of photography where black and white is by far the better choice. I feel like using color photography would distract from the gradients between the shadows and contrast of the skins. In other words they would look much less dramatic. Thanks for sharing!
If only all photographers had unlimited amounts of professional models and dancers at their disposure, hahaha.
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