Kevin Newark
Protoplasm series
In some of the images it is easier to identify that they are images of plastic bags in water.
I think it is a really unique representation of the pollution and waste generated by our society. To me the images speak volumes regarding the way in which our consumer lifestyle impacts upon the environment we inhibit.
“At first sight Kevin Newark’s torn and rejected plastic bags look like telescopic views of heavenly bodies,” says Greg Hobson, Curator of Photographs at the National Media Museum, in a somewhat poetic response to the artist’s Protoplasm.
“We are then pulled up short by the realisation that we are looking at persistent organic pollutants that are slowly suffocating our environment.”
(http://www.culture24.org.uk/art/art65276)
The vapour trail:
The vapour trail, or ‘contrail', is a modern cloud with a destination in mind-yet the delicate structure of this condensed mass means its arrival is permanently postponed. Formed by vapour from the exhaust of a jet engine as it condenses in the very low temperatures encountered above thirty thousand feet, a contrail is like the antithesis of a still photograph: a kind of de-compression of time as it reaches across the spatial void, repeating its structure with manufactured precision. The blurred stream of vapour and ice is reminiscent of the photographic effect achieved by a long exposure with camera fixed to a sturdy tripod; a familiar conceit of the photographer, yet the trail achieves this impression by appearing to cheat time rather than through the exercise of photographic trickery. Time itself is condensed as the camera shutter distils several minutes into what is usually just a fraction of a second, only to de-compress in a photographic print that traces progress rather than the congealed instant.
I was unable to save many images from this series as they were so well protected,
the one example perhaps doesn't best illustrate my point.
However, i soon as i saw the images from this series i was instantly reminded of some images i took a few weeks back whilst in Southport.
There were items on the bed of shallow water which had obviously been there for a long time, i used a long exposure to make them visible in a photograph.
I will include some of the images, hopefully you will see how i was reminded of this by the photographs by Kevin Newark.
As you can see from the information above after further research i realised the images were in fact of trails left by planes in the sky. This to me is another example of how ambiguous the photographs of Kevin Newark are.
Perhaps my initial thought was enhanced by the previous knowledge of his other works being in water...
Whilst in Southport, and only aware of Newarks work of the bags in the canals, i took a series of images inspired by them.
i walked along the beach not long after the tide had gone out - exploring the items washed up. i photographed them closely as to achieve the ambiguous abstract effect.
(a few examples)
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