Tekst Fra Boken, Ole John Aandal, Juvenilia, Teknisk Industri AS, 2009
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Tekst fra boken, Ole John Aandal, Juvenilia, Teknisk Industri AS, 2009 Style and Substance By Susan Bright A friend emailed me recently horrified at the fall/winter (2008) US print campaign for the clothing company American Apparel. She was appalled at the images and couldn’t quite work out why. Something in the aesthetic bothered her so much that she felt compelled to complain to the company. This is not a woman who is prudish or unsophisticated; she just couldn’t come to terms with the way the pictures looked and found them desperate. I spent time with the campaign and experienced a mixture of provocative fashion bravado and DIY (do-it-yourself) homespun glamour seeking to tap into teenage desire. I could see her point even though I thought the images were bold and exciting in a time when mainstream fashion advertising is commercial and safe. The DIY, homespun look of the images seemed harsh as they were out of context. Had these pictures been on a photo-sharing site then they wouldn’t have been shocking, sexy and provocative perhaps, but not shocking. Had my friend been 16 years old, she wouldn’t have even bothered to comment. Context can change everything. To use the established look of vernacular snapshots found on the web in fashion images jars at first and it can cause discomfort until it becomes mainstream and the ‘look’ of the moment. A good example of this trajectory is some of the first photographs taken of Kate Moss in 1993 for British Vogue. The shoot, titled ‘Underexposed’ was shot in Corinne Day’s down at heel signature style. It caused uproar. Both Day and Moss had worked together in the past for The Face magazine and due to circulation numbers and a more alternative audience nothing was said – they almost went by unnoticed. Shifted into a larger and more conservative environment the images reverberated into wider social debates and Kate Moss and Corinne Day become poster girls for a range of issues including anorexia, pedophilia and heroin chic. In the history of fashion photography: grunge was born. Ole John Aandal changes the context of images. He does so literally by taking ‘original ‘ images found on photo networking sites and transports them to a fine art setting. The images he turns to are placed by teenagers and are there for their peers to enjoy. A world that is democratic and inclusive with the ticket of age and computer savvy, and totally exclusive to those not quite hitting the demographic. Aandal comes to them as an adult, a million miles away from their ideology. He is a stranger looking in, fascinated by the identity and enthralled by the images. In the hands of Aandal these images can shock. To adult eyes these are ‘bad’ photographs. They have red eye, are often blurred, the flash burns and they can seem exploitative or just plain stupid to an audience who is not familiar with the aesthetic. In recent showings of the work in Norway the press focused in on the nudity and technical prowess (or perceived lack of it) and issues not too dissimilar from those raised by the Day/Moss shoot over a decade before once again caused much hand wringing. But where the mainstream press might have seen the decaying of values in the photographs, Aandal sees hope. He views these images with a fine knowledge of the history of photography, and realizes their importance in the development of vernacular snapshots. He can also place them in a fine art setting, throwing up interesting comparisons with artists who have utilized the snapshot to capture intimate moments of themselves and their friends including Larry Clark, Nan Goldin and more recently Ryan McGinley and Dash Snow. But these images are different. They are not taken with artistic intent, nor are they documenting a sub culture. These are the ‘every day’ youth of our suburbs documenting their hopes and dreams, fears and anxieties, desires and daydreams. They are the raw articulation of a generation caught in the cross fire between childhood and adulthood where the camera is a vital part of that transition and an aid to helping the journey be a little smoother. The style is all theirs and has an intimacy and raw energy that totally befits the speed and ease of the Internet. The characters Aandal presents are indulgent, vain and self obsessed - so in fact no different from any other generation of teenagers. What is different from the generations of teenagers before them is their access to photography and their almost laissez-faire attitude to taking, editing and posting on a daily basis. What isn't different is the huge gender differences between the girls and the boys. The girls are nearly women and acutely aware of their sexuality. They may not know how to harness it or its potential power but they know that they have a currency that gets results. It’s often overly sexual and as a result there is an overwhelming feeling of melancholy at the loss of innocence and the clichéd posturing that masquerades as self- awareness and confidence. In between the moments of vulnerability there is the bitter sweet knowledge of the Victorians called Freundesliebe which is a guaranteed device to get all heterosexual men (teenagers and pensioners alike) in an instant spin. In comparison the boys seem unsophisticated, as they are more preoccupied with drinking and pranks. Their appreciation of the opposite sex and their sexual potential hasn’t quite turned into something tangible and so they over compensate with bravado and beer instead. Their frustration at themselves and those around them is palpable. And so to return to my friend's reaction to the American Apparel campaign I think it was more than the aesthetics and the gratuitous ‘sexiness’ that got to her, I think it was more that these kinds of images, whether they are appropriated for fashion or put in an art gallery, tap into something more primal. Teenage sexuality is potent, unstable and frightening and to see it photographed in a way that is so different from our understanding of ‘proper’ photography can cut deep. Images of teenagers are no longer the property of their parents forcing them to smile for the camera and controlling what gets seen in-between the pages of an album. Now these images are on sites that many adults find hard to access and the documentation of a new generation is kept out of sight and mind to many. However, thrust into a mainstream context such as fashion advertising, they are stripped of the safety of the original context and turned into empty signifiers commodifying desire. These types of photographs when experienced in another context sharply focus the vulnerability of youth and how easily it can be exploited. But where my friend fears for the future of her baby Aandal sees hope. Juvenilia may take the images out of context, but the ownership of the images is still with the teenagers. Aandal just puts them under the spot light and demands that notice be taken. It’s a body of work that is at turns raw, unfathomable, frightening and unstable but it also has a strange kind of beauty. When teenagers have control, rather than art directors and professional photographers appropriating a style, the DIY approach to imaging the young can tell us more about everyday teenage desire than any advertising campaign can ever aspire to. New York City, October 2008 Susan Bright (UK) Susan Bright is a curator and writer. She has taught extensively and convened major conferences and seminars on many aspects of art and photography internationally. Previously she was Assistant Curator of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, Curator at the Association of Photographers and Acting Director for the MA Photography (Historic and Contemporary) at Sotheby’s Institute, London. Art Photography Now (2005) was published by Thames and Hudson and she is currently working on a survey of contemporary photographic self portraiture also for Thames and Hudson for publication in 2009.Recent exhibitions include: Something out of Nothing, Fotogalleriet, Oslo, Norway (October-November 2007), How We Are: Photographing Britain [co-curated with Professor Val Williams], Tate Britain, London (May-September 2007), Face of Fashion: Corinne Day, Mert & Marcus, Steven Klein, Paolo Roversi & Mario Sorrenti, National Portrait Gallery, London (February-May 2007), 1+1=3: Collaboration in Contemporary British Portraiture, Fremantle Arts Centre, Western Australia (March-April 2006) and Australian Centre of Photography, Sydney (April-May 2007). .