Tuesday, 8 March 2011

Gillian Wearing and Victor Burgin

Probably Gillian Wearing's most famous works are the series of photographs called "Signs that say what you want them to say and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say" which is where she's asked people to write something down on a piece of paper and then photographed them holding it, getting some interesting results when what people have written on the paper doesn't match up with how we would percieve them on the street.

This idea of the text jarring with the image can also be seen in Victor Burgin's "Today is the tomorrow you were promissed yesterday" were he takes the often poetic language of advertising and juxtaposes it against mundane urban photography. The problem with this for me is that because the image is so dull it almost lacks any impact, it's also a dreary idea; that life as it is portrayed in film, television and advertising is not the truth, and that your life will basically be boring. I know that good art is stuff that makes you think, but thoughts like that I'd sooner dismiss in favour of either a more positive thought, or if it is a negative thought at least one with a bit more impact.

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