Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
Ale and Porter Arts, Bradford on Avon
16 July – 20 August
Reviewed by: David Trigg
Curated by Fiona Haser, ‘Time of Light’ draws together the work of fifteen contemporary artists working with pinhole photography. Pinhole photography is often dismissed as simple novelty, but this exhibition challenges us to lay aside any such preconceptions, and features a collection of fascinating and hauntingly beautiful images that display some highly original and sophisticated approaches to the medium.
Coming in all shapes and sizes, pinhole cameras range from homemade affairs utilizing biscuit tins and shoeboxes, to high precision, expensive handmade designs. They create soft-focus, ethereal images often with extreme depth of field; the artists here all exploit these distinctive characteristics but achieve very differing results. Andrew Kemp’s works made with his six-sided panoramic camera are reminiscent of Sam Taylor-Wood’s Five Revolutionary Seconds series, although their hallucinatory quality generates an altogether different atmosphere. Each part of the scene blends mysteriously into the next creating a wonderfully surreal and unsettling vision of everyday experience. In contrast Justin Quinnell’s work is quirky and humorous. He creates pinhole cameras using wheelie bins, or the inside of his own mouth. This work, although amusing, seems to lack any real critical substance, but displays an excitement and playful enthusiasm for the medium. Jan Dunning’s mysterious landscapes exude an uneasy sense of disquiet. All is not what it seems, for these are actually pinhole photographs of intricate models: studio constructions aimed to fool the viewer. It slowly becomes apparent that the trees from a forest scene are made with thick brambles.
With Haser’s obvious passion for the medium she has succeeded in presenting an enlightening insight into the often overlooked world of the pinhole photographer. The most successful work takes the pinhole technique as a point of departure, using its unique and subtle visual qualities to explore weightier concerns rather than simply revelling in the process itself.
Writer detail:
David Trigg is an artist based in Bristol.
Venue detail:
Ale and Porter Arts
25 Silver Street, BRADFORD-ON-AVON BA15 1JZ
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