Thomas Condon
St Joseph's College
STATIC
Photomedia
Photography
My body of work, an eight-photograph series in the style of architectural minimalism, investigates the concept of floating architectural forms. I photographed custom-built models, using high contrast and sharpened detail, with the intention of achieving an intangible, otherworldly quality where the unique forms and deep colours encourage an undistracted focus on shape. In my preliminary darkroom experiments I used torchlight to make the distinct, abstract shadows of each model, ensuring no two images are identical. In my work I challenge conventional architectural photography while representing the serene, meditative essence of Modernism.
My artmaking practice has been influenced by the study and interpretation of the artist Hiroshi Sugimoto, World Trade Centre.
Marker's Commentary
Static explores the world of modernist pictorial photography with the unique colour field of carefully curated abstract forms. The eight works invite an audience to a deep investigation of the architectural inspired shapes. These representations weave an entangled range of geometric profiles, illuminated with the most considered use of studio lighting and postproduction refinement. This creates a consistent, unifying and subtle presence by applying the enticing, illuminated colour key of green and ‘pink-purple’ throughout the diversity and dimensions of the structures.
The architectural forms built from models, move on from traditional ways of photographic documentation to the experimental, creating a narrative where the viewer can discover the translucent capture of light, combining with the forms to transform the subject into a lucid array of abstract imagery. The lighting techniques evidenced in this work cleverly amplifies the transparency of the architectural shapes that float, with interplay across balanced monochrome spaces and backgrounds. This body of work is a sophisticated example of non-figurative photographic practice with studio lighting.