Deconstructing Keith Arnatt

For the assignment in response to seminar 3- 'Between Frontier and the Back-Garden' I have chosen the contemporary photographer Keith Arnatt.I have already been looking into his work in my object unit and am now planning to look further into his work for my environment unit. 

In many of his images you get this feeling of documenting, the way he researches the theme eg. 'Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty' and then visits these places and captures them from an angle that tourists would never view the subject. 

While portraying a sense of beauty in all of his images, the undertone of the subject matter is often quite melancholic in terms of what we as humans have done to the world but at the same time ironic and humorous in the way he shoots the scene; for example a castle poking out from above a fence as if playing hide and seek from the audience.

Untitled from the series A.O.N.B. 

(Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), 1982-84

Miss Grace's Lane, 1986-87

Canned Sunset, 1990-91

The first thing I noticed about all three images is that they are all commenting on the effect humans are having on the environment we live in and therefore the way in which this is changing the landscape.

In the first two images he uses the medium of photography to bluntly portray the destruction we are causing on the landscape, while the last image is slightly more cryptic where he tries to create an artificial environemnt to highlight the way we see the planet as something to consume. 

The first image titled 'Untitled from the series A.O.N.B (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty)' which explores the 'conjuction of 'beauty' and 'banality''. The images were taken in areas around England which were highlighted for their beautiful landscapes; however Arnatt photographs the scenes so that the subject actually forms the backdrop while in the foreground lies something very everyday and possibly unattarctive like a pile of rubbish. 

The second image from a series titled 'Miss Grace's Lane' is an ironic response to the utopian vision Samuel Palmer portrays in his romantic landscape paintings. Debris is strewn across the English landscape creating a melancholic scene often lit by late afternoon sunlight. These images formed his first colour series which perfectly capture the contrast between artificial and natural colouring of the subjects in the frame.   

The final image from the series 'Canned Sunsets' depicts a tin can emerging from other bits of litter which has been constructed to portray vibrantly coloured landscapes; they also refer to a traditional Romantic landscape painting as well as representing the typical sunset photograph. 

The image A.O.N.B has a relatively large depth of field as the litter in the foreground and gate are clearly in focus while the castle which would be the natural subject matter is not in focus yet is clearly identifiable. 

In 'Miss Grace's Lane' there is an equality between all of the objects in the scene as Arnatt uses a large depth of field; he tries to give this idea that the scene is as much beautiful as it is ugly due to the subject matter. 

Whereas the image from the series 'Canned sunsets' has a very shallow depth of field leaving the can itself barely in focus while the background is very distorted making it hard to decipher whether it is objects or actually the sky; this gives the impression of a 'man-made' landscape commenting on the ever growing artificial landscape humans are building. 

A.O.N.B is the only image in black and white, photographed quite blandly to again contrast this idea that it is an outstanding natural beauty. The lighting creates quite a flat image, and gives a nostalgic feel as if this area was once a natural beauty but we have covered it up with man-made rubbish etc. it gives quite a mundane feel to the whole setting.

Again 'Miss Grace's Lane' has quite a dull lit backdrop to highlight the brightly coloured objects; it gives a further sense that they are out of place. As his first set of colour images I feel his use of lighting gives a hesitant feel to the image as if you may be intruding, disturbing a very still, settled landscape which makes the whole scenario begin to look very normal. 

While 'Canned Sunset' gives off a very different essence, probably set in a studio it is brightly lit to highlight the reflective surface of the can to give the sense that the can is producing the lighting for the scene just like the sun. The shallow depth of field gives a painterly quality, and the can which has been thrown away unwanted begins to look desirable to the viewer.

Arnatt produced all three of these images around the same period, late 80s to early 90s when consumerism and pollution was starting to become an issue politically. This could have possibly led to his interest in the effect we are having on the landscape whether it be destroying the environment through building or littering. 

The images' A.O.N.B' and 'Canned Sunset' are both not plainly obvious as to what they are trying to portray until you begin to look closely and notice the features that make up the scene; whereas 'Miss Grace's Lane' is set out very plainly and obvious to the viewer. This shows his journey and discovery through ways of depicting the theme.

After reseraching and analysing these three images I watched a video about Keith Arnatt in which he commented on his 'Pictures of a Rubbish Tip',

‘…they are essentially a comment on picture making, in a number of ways I still feel that and I still feel essentially that the nature of my preoccupation is the idea of making pictures which are not chaotic out of chaos which is something that interested me. The idea of constructing pictures which seem almost impossible under those circumstances but by positioning, by a number of choices, choosing the right light, the right time and so on I can even bring some kind of sense to it…’

I love this idea that he takes photographs because he wants to, he is motivated to create an aesthetically pleasing scene rather than for example positioning the camera in a certain way to comment on a social or political issue; this hints at a very artistic background rather than a photographic upbringing. 

He takes beautiful photographs of undesirable subjects and makes people look at it which in turn makes it desirable again create a cycle which is what I love about his work.