This black and white version of an abstract rock formation near Petrel Cove is from the archives in 2019.
A colour version, which was posted in 2019, is here.
I have been starting to research and write about photographic abstraction that moves beyond the modernist idea of abstraction as non-figuration of the mid-twentieth century. Whilst doing so I have been working my way through the archives.
In Australia the notable exhibition of abstraction was The Field at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1968. Expressionist abstractionists were excluded and no photographic abstractions were included. It was Colour Field painting that took its bearings from American colour field painting and Clement Greenberg's modernism. An exhibition of photographic abstraction was held in 2012 at the Monash Gallery of Art (MGA) in Melbourne.
In his review of the latter Marcus Bunyan stated that was the lack of any text that placed the work in a socio-cultural context. He says that at the beginning of the exhibition there was 5 short paragraphs on a wall as you enter the space with mundane insights such as:
- Photographic language engages the senses and imagination and challenges the way we “look” at the world
- Through the use of cropping and obscure angle the familiar is made unfamiliar
- Colour, shape and form (geometric patterns) are important
- Some artists’ eliminate the camera altogether through photograms, scanner, collage
- Use of multiple exposures, distortion, mirroring
- By drilling down into the substances and processes of photography we can reflect on the very nature of photography itself
- Exploring geometry and patterns found in nature and the built environment or alluding to more intangible themes such as time, mortality and spirituality.
Bunyan has précised the five paragraphs.
He adds that there is really no excuse for this lack of creditable, researched, insightful information. He says that you don’t need a catalogue, all you need is a photo-stated 4-6 page essay to be given to visitors (if they desire to have one, if they want the information). It doesn’t take money it takes will to inform and educate the viewer about this important aspect of Australian photographic history.
It is an early example of the poverty of critical writing on photography.