Aesthetics: Visual Arts: Christopher Gilbert's photoconstructs plus: stunning vision, some macabre, hyper-real Magrittish

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This blog-entry of Apr16,2k6 on refWrite's page 3 was moved to the new refWrite Backpage on Jun20,2k6.
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The Internet holds and hides and reveals many wonderful artistic works that you may stumble on while in search of something else. This happened to me recently when I came upon the photography-plus of Christopher Gilbert. This artist uses photos but constructs (photoconstruction) to achieve works that ambiguate with nuance on many levels. They are what is called polysemous, ruffly that means many-signed; and they are polyvalent, ruffly again many values not at once all available for enjoyment (or otherwise) to the person who encounters them. One resonance I thawt I discerned in Gilbert's work was an influence of Magritte; but unlike Margritte, Gilbert is devoted to the human image as photography captures in its h+ten'd sensuality. One could indeed call this photographic realism wedded to the h+tening a kind of hyperrealism that takes you into realms much beyond Magritte. The treatment of the human figure is often sensual, but never does it cross-over into a pornographic zone. The human figures are posed, their preence in the work and in front of the camera to begin with is well pre-designed. There is no direct address of these figures to the viewer, the viewer is definitely outside the inner worlds of the photoconstruction. Indeed, some of these inner worlds would have to be called macabre, with dead and often bloodied bodies laying about, as it were, to enhance the landscape. But this is no Munch at work. There's a tension instead between the macabre and the lush, the sensuality, the posedness with all its propriety and decorum. At the website of mcstrick, I recommend to you Photos & Visual Art by Christopher Gilbert, on exhibition now. - Anaximaximum

What I wrote earlier in my Deli note was this: "Well, now I've encountered the facility Live Journal. And how! This is definitely art of photography digitalized and (re-)constructed. Style is 'superrealism,' or perhaps 'hyperrealism.' Images are indelible. Christopher Gilbert's a genius artist for sure." Today, I noticed that some other commentators explicitly took cognizance of the abundance of female beauty, female beauties, in the photos; one wrote, "These are wonderful illusions / art / photoshops / whatever we call them this week. They explore species identity, mankind's interaction with nature, and have lots of beautiful women in them." But the distance, the psychic distance, the wall between the viewer who indeed gets a clear and close view but also an absolute separation; these images are not designed to evoke either sympathy or empathy or identification. Just bedazzlement! But that's worth its own as a human aesthetic experience. - Anaximaximum, again.

Tags:

• aesthetics
• arts
• photoconstructs
• photography
• style
• stylesuperealism
• stylehyperealism
• genius
• gilbertchristopher
• livejournal