Portfolio Category - LCEA 2013

The pieces are selected from a series titled "Sur l'Herbe", an oblique (and not overly serious) reference to Manet's "Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe". The ostensible subject matter of figures in a landscape (unclothed opposite clothed) might be viewed in part as a reworking of themes and iconography that have shown up in painting (Giorgione, Manet). More than in such art-historical references, I was interested in setting up a context in which certain dualities and oppositions might be played out: contrived mise-en-scène and (auto)biographical document, planned set-up and improvisation, chance and control, voyeurism and exhibitionism. Such concerns are quite specific to photographically based work. Many pieces tend to involve a tension between the private realm and the public, between intimate and open space. A dose of humor and irony has increasingly crept into the work. The main figures here are my wife and myself (never hired models).