Domestic Objects Leant Against A wall.
Melancholy minimalism is a series of photographs that feature ordinary domestic objects such as broom, clothes airers. These objects are leant against the wall of a room that is waiting a serious make over. The photographs are rendered into monochrome with a cool blue tint. I think this makes each object even more evocative of melancholy than the original colour image. Are they truly minimalist? I don’t know, but they seem to speak to me about some state of repressed emotion and also a sense of stillness.
Minimal Or Conceptual Or Macro?
Of course if one reads up on the minimalist art movement and the closely allied conceptual art of the 1960s and 1970s these images may not fit the accepted definition of minimalist art. Maybe an impoverished series of images is a better fit. For me the objects treated this way gain a power that is hard to put a finger on. This approach resonates with the macro images I have spent a lot of time making. Getting up close to flowers and revealing the underlying structures of the blooms opens up a world that we often pass by. In a similar way taking broom out of its usual context forces the viewer to look at the object in a different way.
In some ways these photographs share a heritage with the still life paintings of the Dutch masters, however paired down to one subject. Rather than an artfully arranged ensemble of fruit, vegetables, flowers. These are not rich images of things to be consumed. They are severe, austere and apparently simple. Yet some how people react to them, weave stories around them. Find meanings in them that I wasn’t even aware of as I captured the photograph.
Melancholy Minimalism
To some extent the unmade room, stripped of wallpaper revealing lumps and holes in the plaster is the second voice in these photographs. The wall provides a context and a texture that heightens the sense of isolation.
