For those who do not know, I am a devout fan of surrealist art. It just speaks to me. Today, I came across this London artist who I was previously unfamiliar with, and now fear I may become OBSESSED with, a good kind of obsessed of course :) His name is John Stezaker and he works with concepts that are pretty close to my personal interests. He calls his pieces 'collages' because he uses ready made images and juxtaposes them together in unique ways to create meaning.
His current exhibition taking place in London right now (why am I not there!?) combines photos of classical Hollywood stars, calling into question our general concepts of gender. Notice how the feel of the images change when they are place next to one another in these ways- asking the viewer to reexamine their concepts of masculinity and femininity. They also touch on the aesthetic idea of the 'aura' of an art work, i.e. the meaning and significance it has in a particular place, space, and time. These sorts of reproductions and re-conceptualizations, I think, completely dismantle the seemingly intrinsic aura and invest it with something all together removed from the original meaning.
Through his editing, he addresses the ideas of perception and reality, gender, the concept of the aura in both art and film stardom and even draws into question our concepts of space and time (especially evident to me in his pieces composed of classic photos/footage and open spaces, architecture, and nature). Further more, some pieces seem to be commenting on ideas about space and connections on an interpersonal level.
Anyway, I thought they were really interesting on many levels. Check out more of his artwork, the pieces are really varied and remarkable, and very beautiful in my opinion.
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