Friday, April 9, 2010

Abstracting the Human Form - Bill Bradnt & Edward Weston

Both of these artists really attracted me because of the different way that they looked at and photographed the human body. Below is some of Bill Brandt's work. I love the setting on the rocks, because it makes the subject seem as if it's grow out of nature, rather than a person has just been placed there.




The interesting thing about Edward Weston (below) is the incredibly similarity between the way he represented both the human form and the organic non-human form (like in plants and vegetables). It often makes one question whether or not the subject is human.







What really strikes me about both these artists is the contortion of the human body and the isolation of its parts. While the body extended and as a whole is beautiful and interesting, its something I think we all have seen before in many different ways. But the abstraction represents a unique point of view. To me, both artists seemed to be drawing a parallel between man and the rest of nature, by emphasizing the organic nature of our form. In doing so, these images have the ability to change the way one looks at their own shape.

3 comments:

Daphne Longo-Okcuoglu said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Daphne Longo-Okcuoglu said...

said...

beautiful images you chose by both artists - when you were reading about Brandt...did it say he used a VERY wide angle lens?

I think you or some of us should bring in some peppers and other fruit to photograph the "form" of it in the same way as Weston with the studio lights and backdrop we could have a lot of fun with that!

Daphne Longo-Okcuoglu said...

said...

beautiful images you chose by both artists - when you were reading about Brandt...did it say he used a VERY wide angle lens?

I think you or some of us should bring in some peppers and other fruit to photograph the "form" of it in the same way as Weston with the studio lights and backdrop we could have a lot of fun with that!