Stuart McCall
This series of images depicts typical, but frequently overlooked iconic objects depictive of specific times and places. Photographs of similar iconic manmade and naturally occurring structures, are presented as large black and white prints in the form of arrays, or grids, emphasizing the similarities and variation of individual subjects or objects.
Photographed in a rigorously formal manner that brings to mind simple botanical illustrations, each subject, whether a series of olive trees or fireworks shacks, is objectively documented. Printed as grids, these diagrammatic presentations evoke the rigor of scientific classification. In form, they suggest the structure of a contact sheet of film negatives.
With direct frontal views, photographing in overcast skies or undramatic light, this work furthers my exploration of dispassionate looking, creating meticulous, almost scientific depictions of these objects. It is in the compilations that conclusions of ubiquity and familiarity can be drawn. In the formal qualities of repetition and patterns the mind creates links between objects, drawing them together into a unified notion. The exacting presentation stimulates consideration of the ways in which we organize and receive information, about our own environments and the wider world.
This series, Typologies, urges the viewer to reflect upon the complex relationship between the natural world and human activity. Whether it be the extent of human meddling in biodiversity, or the penchant we have to anthropomorphize natural objects. The intention of this work is to reveal conclusions about place and perception from simple straightforward images of iconic subjects.
Reflecting the mid 20th century conceptual photography of Bernd and Hilla Becher's Water Towers, Ed Ruche's Gasoline Stations, and Jim Breukelman's Hot Properties, Typologies is a tribute to their ideas, with a deviation into new subjects brought about by regional context.