#stezaker

The artist creates imaginative connections between people, nature, and architecture. A sense of nostalgia transpires, emphasised by Stezaker’s decision to overlap Sephia tone images onto black and white photos. As the artist places landscapes pictures on top of the people’s facial features, the identity of the portraits’ subjects is obfuscated by what seem to be memories of visual scenarios. We cannot transparently see the expressions, nor eyes of these men, but only imagine. While photography serves as a means to document, to then remember moments of real-life experiences, with these images, Stezaker locates us in a surrealist dimension. Here, the men’s faces are hidden by what could possibly represent instants of time that constitute their individual memory.

Collages by John Stezaker As I’m experimenting with collages techniques for my project, I’ve decided to take a look at the practice of the British artist John Stezaker. I was already familiar with Stezaker’s works, although, last Sunday I paid a visit to the Saatchi Gallery, where his works are currently exhibited. I was drawn to curiosity. I rushed home and began to investigate the artist’s modus operandi.  The interesting thing about his collages is that first sight, the beholders can spot the artist’s techniques, solid cuts and forms are visible. They recall the tragic, simple yet important, act of cutting photographs. These images are ‘simply’ deconstructed by means of scissors, although extraordinarily reassembled with tactics of association. Let alone the easiness of deconstruction, the surrealist grandeur of Stezaker’s collages converge in complex scenarios. 

inspired by john stezaker #photography #discord #as #alevel #stezaker

alcohol

John Stezaker, 1976