fossett_4

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on June 28, 2016 at 6:42pm

Curator’s Comments:

 

I’m just now coming to your work, and am viewing this body of photographs for the first time.  Many have a canny sense of the epic couched within the ordinary, as we view what seem to be straight forward images of people enjoying leisure time around various parks and water holes.  But on a little closer inspection, works like the piece numbered 7 have an unusual sense of drama and light.  The figures all appear small and somewhat insignificant when up against their natural surrounds, and in some cases engaged in multi-figure narratives.   Others, such as the photograph numbered 11 highlight the isolation and intentional disengagement of a swimmer in water.  The aerial view in this piece allows for a voyeuristic view of the diminished figure, with ripples fading away from her in a shallow inlet. But I’m perhaps most attracted to the fourth piece for its curious frozen movement and unusual positions of the three men. Initially I thought it might be a stop motion image of the same model, but I like that the three figures are each unique, and are physically confronted by- or stymied by- the precipitous rock walls.  The piece seems to be metaphorical or intended to address the meeting of an obstacle beyond the physically obvious.  Formally, there’s an interesting tension to the triadic arrangement of the subjects, creating repetition and visual hierarchy in the foreground/background.  The central focal figure controls the action despite his relatively still position.  His raised arms could be simply wiping water away from a dive, or expressing despair in his position.  It’s this ambiguity within the skillfully crafted works that keep me looking.