I'm fascinated by the qualities that come to the fore when detail
is almost obliterated by extremely soft focus. In the Still Life series, this withholding of
detail creates a sense of ambiguity between the real and the
artificial and pushes the viewer's attention to the surface of the
print, where the smearing of colors recalls impressionist
brushwork.
The Visitor series, begun around the same time, shares both the
technical device of soft focus and the centrality of the figure.
Here, though, the figure is live, the scenes are more dynamic, and
the palette is more restrained, focusing attention on the
emotional and gestural content of a series of simple tableaux and
the way these gestures accumulate meaning to suggest a narrative
arc.
|