Visualising interior space






William Eggleston, Graceland, 1984.

As Eggleston was from this part of the American South (Memphis, Tennessee) one imagines he understood the feel of these extraordinary rooms. His style of strong colours combined with his engaging point of view (his 'democratic eye') mark them as very different to standard architectural photography. Despite their angled perspectives the spaces are rendered flat by the confusion of patterns and textures, the depth of field is technically deep and yet everything is about surface.

Thanks to Morgan Jones for the suggestion and the informative comment/expansion attached to this post.

2 comments:

  1. First I loved Elvis, then I loved Eggleston. I love them both now, even though Graceland is where they both went to die.

    That's a bit unfair.

    There was also a six year period in the 80s when I was quite fond of Whitesnake...

    Nevermind.

    One of the key components of genius is efortlessness...seeming efforlessness...is that even a word?
    Composure...that is a word...easiness, poise, informality...I didn't know it, I looked it up...constructed it...

    Elvis and Eggleston, music and photography down south, they made it seem effortless, supercharged...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOzaVpgeHJg

    http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/files/2009/12/peaches-1024x684.jpg

    I'm no genius, I'm a bully...there, I said it...when I want to make something I tend to bludgeon it into being like a neanderthal trying to hack a boulder into wheel. And for what?

    Graceland is an institution, and it did for Elvis and Eggleston just like that Oregon Asylum did for Randal P McMurphy. There's nothing vital about Elvis in Graceland, and there's nothing like the grain of the present in Eggleston's painfully composed photography of Graceland-as-mausolem.

    Except for maybe that shot of the gate, the exterior--looking out--

    http://www.sfmoma.org/images/artwork/medium/85.648.11_01_b02.jpg

    As for all the rest it's nauseating quite frankly, nothing like the crisp clarity, the charge, the revolutionary spirit of these artists in their prime...

    more like this guy...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc9FRB0WuGU

    That's me right there, that's a human being. Not the genius who conjures something out of nothing...

    http://arttattler.com/Images/NorthAmerica/NewYork/Whitney/William%20Eggleston/03.-eggleston_untitled1965cart.jpg

    Eggleston's Graceland is like Eggleston's Paris (and Eggleston's drawings)...arranged, corralled, constructed. A visual jargon.

    What is the antithesis of 'sublime'?
    I looked it up, it's 'hideous'!

    Institutions are a form of interior against which even genius contends in vain. And boy, were those two good at interiors...

    http://bluetowerarts.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/william-eggleston18.jpg

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpzV_0l5ILI

    Here are some more sublime Eggleston interiors...

    http://graememitchell.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/eggleston_2_girls_on_couch.jpg

    http://pagesonline.it/pagesblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/WILLIAM-EGGLESTON.jpg

    http://zeropointperspective.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/eggleston.jpg

    http://rubistudios.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/eggleston_untitledplane.jpg

    http://www.masters-of-photography.com/images/full/eggleston/eggleston_shoes_under_bed.jpg

    http://glittersoup.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/eggleston_freezer.jpg

    http://accessibleartny.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/hot_sauce.jpg

    http://www.mexicanpictures.com/headingeast/images/eggleston-sea-island.png

    http://www.brianrose.com/journal/eggleston_oven.jpg

    How can I train myself to see shots like that ?!?!? that's the real question!

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