Duo have good form-Take Five photos and review

Photos and review in the Canberra Times arts pages.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/tale-of-two-talents-20130819-2s6ge.html

and hard copy on page 8

notice  and review in the Canberra City news by Helen Musa

http://citynews.com.au/2013/subtle-ceramics-and-photographs-at-form/

Terry Moore's critique of the exhibition Coast-with thanks to Terry for sending this through for the blog

Coast-a series of images

I am reminded of my own empathy to the seaside, my search for detail that accompanies explorations along the shore. A shell on the beach that needs collecting, the plants that grow in unlikely places, the sand and water patterns, the rock pool with its diverse life, colour and shapes. All these things are here. In looking at this work I am reminded of this but also of the work of Karl Blossfeldt and the way he introduced such detail to us in the early part of the last century. In fact Peter’s ‘Sea Patterns 1, 2 & 3’ have a sense of Blossfeldt’s Photogravure images without having much to do with his images’ content or his medium. Blossfeldt produced a fascinating series of plant photographs, which were the essence of a modernist view of such forms. He recognized how photographs can function as an aid to memory and pursued purity and truth in his images with a modernist’s passion.  

Life depends in the main on movement and the frozen moment in ‘Sea Patterns’ are able to suggest to us the movement that is taking place. A photo is able to suspend in time a precise moment yet this moment itself is timeless. Blossfeldt’s photographs of plant stems such as ‘Impatiens glanduligera’ and ‘Cornus nuttalli’ appear like wrought iron castings; we need reminding that they are in fact plants. Interestingly enough Blossfeldt was originally apprenticed as a decorative cast iron worker.  His isolation of seed, flower and leaf segments draw us into a world that we could be unaware of at least in its detailed form. Blossfeldt’s images inform us of the fine structure of a plant or how they become a pattern of nature such as occurs in Peter’s ‘Sea Patterns’. Peter’s striking images of plant and seashore life have this much in common with Blossfeldt’s. However compared to the prints in this exhibition Blossfeldt’s images seem static, no wind ruffled these plants.

With Peter’s ‘Fern’ and ‘Strap Plant’ a similar sense of resolution seems possible. But intentions differ as do the exhibited print quality. When viewing Blossfeldt’s prints you are left feeling somewhat flat. With Peter’s work you enjoy a feeling of deep satisfaction, which has to do with the subject matter and it’s context, but also with the very richness of the prints.

Walter Benjamin remarked, “What is again and again decisive for photography is the photographers attitude to his technique.”

In this exhibition, unlike Peter’s last where the photographs were printed using the wet process, a technique in which Peter excels, we have a digitally printed exhibition. Peter’s pursuit of excellence with the digital technique and the different challenges that such printing entails is very apparent and very successful. The richness of the prints does indeed remind us of what can be achieved using the wet process and is here achieved using the digital medium. In the two images mentioned above and in ‘Seed in Water’ the tonal contrast is wide and complex with the lovely rich blacks beautifully achieved.

A similar richness can be seen with ‘Feather in Sand’, ‘Rockpool’ and the two ‘Bird Tracks’. When viewing this exhibition we understand we are in the presence of a modernist sensibility. Given the post-modernist critique, to be modern seems also to be seeing things as they were. The pleasure we can obtain from the fragments portrayed in this exhibition have something to do with our desire to possess such moments, objects that we may collect, a shell on the sand. In this way the modernist moment is very much alive. The photographs place fragments in a context that we feel familiar with and comfortable with. They record not only Peter’s experience but also our own memories of the coast encouraging us to look more carefully at what we see and feel there. A number of the images work well because of his use of depth of field as in ‘Seed in the Water’ with its rich contrast, which provides a thought provoking image through the use of the narrow focus. This image constantly asks questions of you.

‘Flower’ has a similar effect. ‘Plant in the Sand’ has an air of mystery to it with its lonely depiction of what you assume to be a plant but which could also be a piece of debris. When dealing with a fragment it is often possible to achieve a monumental quality to the image. In both ‘Propeller’ and ‘Cola’ you are made aware of this possibility. The scribbling patterns you see under the wording in ‘Cola’ are very evocative of another existence beneath the surface. The size of the vessel that the propeller drives remains a mystery. And so with all of these images you have a thoughtful and thought provoking photograph that asks the viewer a number of questions that the subject matter only begins to suggest. The images’ ability to awaken in the viewer such questions takes us well beyond the photographic record and what ostensibly the image is. It has this subject, it has this suggestion. Photography like all art has the ability and the responsibility to say more than just the literal statement of what a subject is, in this case a two dimensional representation of a subject.

The photograph we look at is the vision of the photographer and we view it seeking to share that sensibility while at the same time seeking our own interpretation of the image, we can make our own story. In this manner the work is successful, we have a fine set of prints, which are supported by Peter’s desire for, and achievement of print perfection, they are quiet images in a very modernist way. These images fulfill the need in art work to be raising a question, telling a story, provoking a meaning that you can appreciate and where you understand the photographers intention in the photograph while providing an entry to your own view of the work.

The image ‘Island’ provides a signature to the exhibition with the wonderful tonal graduation of the sky but above all the placement of the horizon line in the lower 15% of the portrait image, an echo of ‘Monte Alban’ in Peter’s last exhibition. Not so much a fragment but very much the photographer’s way of seeing. This image (like all modern photographs) provides a visual record of a subject seen; such representation is taken as being real. This acceptance enables us to relate very strongly to the subject portrayed. We all perhaps have our own memory of a lone plant in the sand, a seabirds feather washed ashore and in our memory we can see, perhaps even feel and hear, the environment the images set for us. It is this aspect that gives the quiet reference and the satisfaction that we have when viewing this exhibition.

With this exhibition we are called upon to not only confirm in ourselves the experience of the Coast but also to seek new truths, new stories and understandings of the things portrayed. The best way to judge a photograph is if it makes the viewer pause, consider and to think, about the aesthetic and about its meaning. It remains one of the enigmas of photography that Black and White prints provide a more profound sense of what is real. Peter works deliberately with Black and White images and through this medium provides us with an aspect of his view of the world producing a successful and thought provoking exhibition.

final images from the exhibition Substance and the Lightness of Touch

Afterword

The Substance and the Lightness of Touch exhibition opening was last night. There was an enormous interest, so much that we ran out of the glasses-260 we had arranged ready to go. Firstly a big thankyou to Silo Bakery who supplied the wonderful food and Paul Chapman from Chapman images who photographed the exhibition so beautifully. Thanks also to Simon who helped me hang the exhibition so successfully-he saved my frail back. The day was a madhouse-friends, final checks, organising the behind the scenes, a radio interview and the exhibition itself, the traffic jam outside and inside the gallery. So many interesting conversations. The gallery was abuzz from the opening to the closing. The comments insightful, positive and rewarding. The year of endeavour to finalise a collection of artwork ready to exhibit. We look forward to seeing so many return when they can view the ceramics and photography in a less bustling environ over the next 2 and a half weeks of the exhibition, which runs until September 2nd.

exhibition opening

material substance cover

The limited edition book Material Substance is available by order-email for detailspeteranyard@yahoo.com


The book is the culmination of a long series of work and is a limited edition printing of 100 copies-signed and dated. There are over 80 images. I have always been fascinated by the object, particularly objects changed by the combination of weather, time, history and often, neglect. The diffused photographic images in this collection are highly subjective interpretations of the form, tone and colour of the objects and the resonant and changing meanings they project. The images have been made across many different countries and climates and the three exhibitions will be shown in sequence.


Susan Sontag wrote of our diminishing touch with our past and that our objects should 

“have a patina, old furniture, grandparents’ pots and pans–the used things, warm with generations of human touch, ...essential to a human landscape. Instead, we have our paper phantoms, transistorized landscapes. A featherweight portable museum.”

The images included for this exhibition have all been printed individually, by the artist, using archival pigment inks on a cotton rag, semi gloss paper. Complete control of the printing process allows for a highly personalized image. The technique uses a gradual softening and hardening of the image, fracturing the surface, and helping to create a dreamscape. The diffused imagery is in response to our remembrance of place.

finalising the exhibition Substance and the lightness of Touch

Finalising the exhibition details. Framing is done and is beautiful. Thankyou to Michael and Yoko from City Framing and Gallery. Graphic Design is exceptional-thanks to Jayne Melville. Food and Beverages are next, then hanging the show on Monday for the opening Wednesday 14th at 6pm at Form Gallery.

some influences

I have revisited a number of books-Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes, Ways of Seeing by John Berger, On Photography by Susan Sontag, all the works by Allain De Botton, perhaps most importantly the Art of Travel, an anthology of Beat Poetry, a collection of Keats, the Penguin version of Herodotus The Histories, Art History Versus Aesthetics edited by James Elkins, and The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin. Photographers and Painters in their publications such as Robert Vickery-The Magic of Realism, Keith Carter in Holding Venus, the 20 Year Retrospective by Michael Kenna, the Hawaii Series by Brett Weston, Lynn Geesaman's Gardenscapes, Gerhard Richter's retrospective at the Tate Modern and Todd Hiro, A Divided Road all helped to inform my progress and inspired me to work beyond the image. Digital technology has allowed for the most democratic of image making-instantaneous, easy, cheap. But it seems now-perhaps more importantly than ever, there must be the desire to produce a body of work that transcends the technology, the cliche and the mundane. In the Sydney Morning Herald an art reviewer called silver gelatin technology "old fashioned" without once referring to the qualities of the image or the paper surface. Michael Kenna is producing sublime, jewel like images using cameras from the 1980's. His responses are always "they keep on working". Sally Mann uses a view camera over 100 years old, Keith Carter produces ethereal narratives with a trusty Hasselblad 6 x 6 and a shift lens used in a most unconventional manner. This is not to discount the technological changes. Murray Fredericks uses digital technology in the most extraordinary way-inspirational really. The work I have made is totally reliant on the digital printing solutions offered. It has been a steep learning curve to produce the images in the digital darkroom. I still print all the images individually and personally-a choice I enjoy and one inspired by Brett Weston who hand printed every single image he produced for his folios. I think of the images for the exhibition Substance and the Lightness of Touch as dreamscapes as they are the memories of the place.

Tiffanie Brown, Peter Rohan and Peter Ranyard have an exhibition at M16 in Griffith Canberra in Late March 2014-Beyond the Surface

The work will include watercolour paintings from the Sulman finalist, muralist and illustrator Tiffanie Brown, etchings from master designer and fine artist Peter Rohan and a series of black and white prints by Peter Ranyard.

the process

The culmination of this work has been a bittersweet process. I had a lot of ideas I had always wanted to work on and resolve but full-time work and a busy and active social life precluded the deep concentration needed to create a series of work to my satisfaction. In 2012 I suffered a catastrophic back injury that required a major rehabilitation. When the pain was the most intense and I was doing the rounds of the specialists, doctors, physios, hospitals and injections I decided to undertake some photography projects as a way of filling the time and also managing the negative emotions of being in long term pain and not being able to function as you would generally. By not being able to do all the activities you would normally do, galvanised the mind to attend to ones you had the capacity to do. To my surprise immersing myself in the philosophical, aesthetic and technical considerations of the work was the best pain management solution I could envisage. The initial shearing pain and dysfunction was dampened by intense concentration on the artwork. I worked steadily and regularly-with rests in between. I had a very strong idea on how the images should look but needed a significant time to work through all the problems and resolve the work satisfactorily. There were some major dead ends, frustration, a lot of revisitation and a significant learning curve to bring the colour series to fruition-in total over a year. To my surprise I have very little recollection of the initial stages of the process when I was in the midst of the most severe pain. The work in this exhibition will be the first of a three-part exhibition program, revolving around the same thematic ideas. Most of the images will be represented in the book “Material Substance”. The work is linear in time and all subtly different depending on the locations, seasons and objects. I was indeed fortunate to have such a supportive partner who not only cared for me when I was hurt, listened to all the complaints and kept all the day-to-day functioning of a house going, but was also a wonderful sounding board for the myriad of ideas.