INTERFACE
Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
REVIEW
Alan Russell: Around Reality
Watershed, Bristol
19 June – 5 August
Reviewed by: Carolyn Black
Alan Russell's panoramic photographs of landscapes and cityscapes taken around the UK demonstrate an innovative use of a digital process called QTVR (QuickTime Virtual Reality). The technique – enabling images to be digitally sewn together – is usually employed for web work although some artists have created gallery works with it, notably Sheffield-based performance and digital artists Forced Entertainment.
At first glance, these panoramic vistas have a Canelleto-like appearance, but on closer scrutiny they take on an added surreal character. In The Docks, an image of Bristol docks, Russell uses a panoramic range of 230° and combines photographs from different times of day. The immaculate manipulation of the pixels in joining the images seems to override the rather odd juxtaposition created by two light sources. To those who don't know the area, maybe the resultant distortions would go unseen. Residents of Bristol though will see immediately that the river is wider than it should be and that the viewpoint is an impossible one.
All but one of the images are horizontal in format. The exception is The Cathedral Quire, a fascinating view of the inside of Wells Cathedral. At the bottom of the image is a member of the clergy, as your eyes travel up, it is like lying on your back looking up at the magnificent ceiling, eventually stretching your head back and looking behind you to the other end of the space. It reflects the sense of awe these monumental buildings were designed to create, a total immersion, a meditation on how insignificant we really are.
Don't let the words 'digital images' or 'pixelated' suggest coarse imagery, these photographs are of extremely high quality. Even the weather is magically captured, with storm clouds gathering to add drama to the scenes.
Writer detail:
CAROLYN BLACK
is an artist and writer
carolyn@hybrideyes.com |
www.hybrideyes.com
Venue detail:
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