William Eggleston - "I'm at war with the obvious"
For project one of Contemporary Photographic Ideas we were asked to select an artist from a list then make a photographic work in response to that artist. The artist I have chosen is iconoclastic American photographer William Eggleston.
The reason I decided on Eggleston is my admiration for his work and his non conformist attitude. During the mid sixties when the label of art photography was reserved principally for works in black and white Eggleston bucked tradition and chose to work chiefly in colour. Eggleston is widely credited as a pioneer of colour photography, elevating the medium from a mainly commercial practice to a legitimate art form. In his strikingly composed photographs Eggleston utilises discerning bursts of colour to monumentalise what is ostensibly mundane subject matter.
The sometimes brash cropping and subtly oblique angles in Eggleston's work create a startling sense of alienation between us and objects which on the most part are unremarkably familiar. And yet there is incredible warmth, everything is equal in front of Eggleston's camera and therefore equally worthy of respect. Eggleston is often reffered to as having a "Democratic Camera". The important function this equalising of subject matter performs is that it allows Eggleston to capture difficult and frivolous issues in the same light. Images relating to issues such as race, death and politics are presented in the same way as say candy floss or Elvis's mustard drapes. By imbuing his images with an almost comical value Eggleston made things digestible at a time when overt explorations of these subjects would have caused many to turn away. This astute relationship between Eggleston and the everyday is perhaps what has cemented him as one of the most influential photographers of the past century.
The reason I decided on Eggleston is my admiration for his work and his non conformist attitude. During the mid sixties when the label of art photography was reserved principally for works in black and white Eggleston bucked tradition and chose to work chiefly in colour. Eggleston is widely credited as a pioneer of colour photography, elevating the medium from a mainly commercial practice to a legitimate art form. In his strikingly composed photographs Eggleston utilises discerning bursts of colour to monumentalise what is ostensibly mundane subject matter.
The sometimes brash cropping and subtly oblique angles in Eggleston's work create a startling sense of alienation between us and objects which on the most part are unremarkably familiar. And yet there is incredible warmth, everything is equal in front of Eggleston's camera and therefore equally worthy of respect. Eggleston is often reffered to as having a "Democratic Camera". The important function this equalising of subject matter performs is that it allows Eggleston to capture difficult and frivolous issues in the same light. Images relating to issues such as race, death and politics are presented in the same way as say candy floss or Elvis's mustard drapes. By imbuing his images with an almost comical value Eggleston made things digestible at a time when overt explorations of these subjects would have caused many to turn away. This astute relationship between Eggleston and the everyday is perhaps what has cemented him as one of the most influential photographers of the past century.
