Larry Fink, Cote d’Azur
I have to start out by saying I enjoyed the overall exhibit at Aperture yesterday. Although I liked all of the artists, the artist that spoke to me the most and throughout most of his work posted at the exhibit was Larry Fink. Most of his photos had a particular theme, there were about two that I noticed. The first of these themes featured people, or subjects that had a lower class lifestyle and probably lived in a more rural area of the country. This theme featured a lactating mother displaying the natural occurrence that having a child has done to her breasts and a child’s birthday. The other theme I noticed was one that dealt with, in my opinion, the more “dignified” times of life; the times that we remember best, because we only get a chance to do them so many times. This theme featured benefits at the Museum of Modern Art, the Hungarian Debutante Ball, and an Oscar Party in Hollywood. Despite the two very different types of subject matter featured in each type of photograph, they both captured true emotion in the faces of their subjects and showed life in its most revealing moments. However, although both these themes kept my attention for quite some time, it was a piece that was not part of either motif that intrigued me most.
Rather the piece that I spent most time looking at and pondering was one that was not captured in the United States like most of Fink’s other compositions on display, but France. The composition was titled Cote d’Azur. It featured an old woman sitting in a forest of home grown plants. The woman was much older, her muscles had thinned and weakened, her bones brittle. The woman looked very frail. The setting around her was very tranquil and engulfing at the same time. It seemed as if the horticulture around her gave her peace while simultaneously swallowing her whole. The woman was seated neatly in a lawn chair, fully dressed although she was the only one around. Even though the bottom half of her legs and feet are out of view, you can tell that she is seated with her legs crossed because of the way that her skirt rises up on one side. She is wearing a feather boa and a pearl necklace with her purse drawn over her shoulder and she is clutching it on her lap. The woman looks upward and forward into the distance, staring at nothing it would seem, but there is hope in her eyes. She has her lips drawn in tightly reminding everyone who is not around her that she still maintains her dignity, however it also shows the world around her her vulnerability as she draws near the end of her life. There is a greenhouse behind her, also as frail as the woman as can be seen through the chipped paint on its windowsills. This building makes it seem as if the woman is seated not in a public park or a forest, but in a fenced garden adjunct to her own home. It seems as if this is her thinking place.There is ivy growing across the window panes, representing how old the place is as well as the woman. Spotted sunlight gives a sense of how the outside world is closed out from this private session in which this woman is still hopeful, yet still ponders the closing approach of her death to come. However, the most poignant part of the photograph, the one characteristic that gives the scene all of its validity is the camera position. Although, it may not seem like an important factor, Fink had the camera in the midst of the shrubbery and trees, peering out at the woman from what she peers into with her mind busy with quiet thoughts. Having the camera in this position does not disturb the harmony of the woman and her environment or its tranquility that are both important to the very core of this composition. This photo truly reveals Fink’s ability to capture the moments of life that no one else sees. It may seem like a woman in a garden, but it reveals the daunting thoughts that inhibit her head in the pondering of her own death.
October 19th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Kim,
A poignant and detailed description and meditation on this photography. Thank you.
Claudia
October 20th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
Your description was very well written. I also found the Paris pictures very interesting, especially since I had the chance to visit Paris this summer. I thought the pictures really captured the mood of the city and of the subjects. I don’t really remember the one you describe here, but I do remember one of an old man sitting on the banks of the Seine river. It was very beautiful and moving. I also really agree with you about the camera position. The camera angle in the photo that I described in my blog, called “Horace Silver”, was also pivotal in creating the mood and illuminating the critical aspects of Horace’s face. In high school, one of my teachers talked to us about the innovative camera angles first widely seen in the movie “Citizen Kane” and the relationship between camera angles and, weirdly, comic books.