Thursday Thoughts A. Selbe 8.30.2009 Diptych Research

During my research I came across a photographer named John Bernhard. He is a very accomplished artist with 10 or so photo books published. He has worked with many different subjects and he is also a painter. His conceptual series entitled "Diptych" struck me. In explaining his series, he acknowledges the fact that an artist will tend to approach composition or design in similar ways from series to series/project to project. I think this is really true for all artists; I have seen it very much in my own work as well as others.

Bernhard created this series "Diptych" by sorting through all his photographs and finding ones that relate visually and contextually with each other. The photographs he pairs together visually mirror the other and conceptually create a comparison/opposition between them. He speaks of how pairing different images create different comparisons, tension and ambiguity.

I believe that we react in a field of association with repetitions, analogies and duplicities. In any given situation - from time to time, place to place, and subject to subject - the image maker will subconsciously encounter similar approaches. Intuitive action brings the affinity of the subject matter to a new level of significance. - John Bernard

"Diptych" Series, Varied Sizes, photography, John Bernhard, Varied Dates(photos compiled from archives)

I think that these three diptychs from Bernhard all visually work the same way but the content within them is very different. I admire the one of the city traffic and the field because it really speaks to the comparison I want to make with my photographs. That is the comparison between a place that comforts me and a place that sets of anxieties. Most of the time I feel much more comfortable being completely alone than I do in a crowd of people or even with just a few people I am not comfortable with. For me, this diptych shows to places that appear very much the same but they make me feel two different desires.

I wanted to show the third diptych of the man walking a dog and the woman with children because it works visually the same as the others but it really makes me laugh. The comparisons he makes in these diptychs are all very different and that is what makes this body of work so interesting.

You can check out his whole series at johnbernard.com.

This artist really gives me some fresh ideas about how images can work and interact side by side. And also how textures, line and compositions work between two similarly shot images. My next step in my research process is to find social anxieties and remedies for calming in different people and different cultures. I want to do this research to understand how anxieties affect others so I better communicate my own issues visually. I usually have a hard time getting what I am thinking in my head translated into a photography or even out of my mouth for that matter. This is why I feel its important to try to research. I will also be gathering images from books and the Internet while doing this research. I want to use some appropriated images from my research to make some diptychs and see what kind of comparisons I can create. Then I will start shooting my own! Any thoughts or suggestions? Please comment!