Visit to the Institute of Contemporary Arts

Juergen Teller

On the 13th March 2013 I travelled to the Institute of Contemporary Arts, in London to observe the Juergen Teller's gallery; 'Woo!' As I entered the gallery I noticed three pictures straight away;

I noticed these pictures due to their positioning and large scale in the first room of the gallery. My initial response to the pictures wasn't shock, but I would say I was quite surprised at the content displayed in the pictures. The pictures seemed very intimate in more than one way; the fact that the model (Vivienne Westwood) has allowed Juergen Teller to photograph her without any clothes on presents an intimate relationship between them  both. Also, the display can also be seen as intimate to the public due to the explicit nature of the images. However, the scale of the images takes away the intimacy of the display as they are so large so that we notice them.  

I believe that all of the photos displayed in Jeurgen's gallery were very personal as the photos display a sort of hidden meaning behind the model used, which is what I think was the purpose of his exhibition. (This relates to theme; Cover and Obscure). As he has mentioned in a video that he didn't want to be restrained, or involved with any dress code shows that he wanted to portray very personal photos. 

I like the way Juergen Teller has thought about the display and scale of the photos within the gallery; the large scale of the photos that should be kept hidden/covert are exposed which shows that Jeurgen Teller has brought the covert and obscure out in the obvious. 



Man Ray

This is one of Man Rays photos that was displayed in the National Portrait Gallery that I visited. 

Man Ray was a modernist artist from America, born on August 27 1890 and died on November 18 1976 and took this photo in 1929. He spent most of his career in Paris and took part in the Dada and Surrealist movements. Although he produced work using a variety of media, he considered himself a painter. He was well known for his 'avant-garde' photography as well as his fashion and art photography. He is also known for his photograms which he personally named 'Rayographs'. This is a technique that I have been inspired by to use for my final outcome.