|
Showing 1 - 11 of
11 matches in All Departments
|
The Lament (Hardcover)
Harvey Benge
|
R756
R690
Discovery Miles 6 900
Save R66 (9%)
|
Ships in 12 - 17 working days
|
'You Won't Be With Me Tomorrow' is a sequel to the narrative Harvey
Benge developed in his 2013 book, 'Some Things You Should Have Told
Me'. Both deal with the pain of relationship, the seeming
inevitability of separation and the mistrust that is its
consequence. Women drift, lost and hostile, throughout the pages -
they're masked or veiled; they stare from behind bars - sometimes
metal, sometimes frail as gauze, or turn away, eyes averted. They
are beautiful but isolated - the time for reconciliation has long
passed. This isolation is reinforced by a sense of eroticised
cruelty - on one page, a woman plucks out her tongue, on another
she thrusts it through a ghostlike paper mask, its tip
counterpointed by a single red nail. Bodies are branded, bandaged,
broken; they're both scarred and vulnerable. A vibrant red apple
declares multiple allusions - beauty, knowledge, temptation,
betrayal. Benge's visual vocabulary is typically elusive, but in
'You Won't Be With Me Tomorrow' he seems to examine a larger
narrative. A young man is behind bars; a few pages later, stares at
himself in a mirror in front of a closed door. A young boy puts his
arm around a girl. They look beyond the frame at something
troubling. And yet - within Benge's work, there is always
unexpected beauty. Hope even. Amongst images of empty rotundas,
retreating figures and vanishing planes, a closed door has panes of
light, sunlight falls across a track. It's as if Benge, while
chronicling the pain of connection, also suggests subtle ways
forward: a wooden X beneath a bush may mean stop; it may also be a
kiss.
William Eggleston once asked Harvey Benge - What are you doing
these days? Photographing the urban social landscape, said Benge.
Don't talk bullshit; what are you doing? Eggleston insisted. Making
strange pictures in cities, replied Benge. However you look at
them, Harvey Benge's photographs are mostly urban and generally
strange. His work is mysterious; nothing is solid. The pictures
capture contrasts and conflicts which leave you wondering what has
just happened and what might happen next. He gives voice to the
mundane and overlooked. His open-ended photographic sequences
record small moments of everyday life that flash past with tension
and ambiguity: an urban dream on the edge of reality where figures
retreat, seats are empty, phones don't work. Any and every
interpretation is a valid interpretation. What is going on? You
decide. With photographs made in Paris, London, New York and Rome,
this new intensely personal, some might say autobiographical book,
is enigmatically entitled 'Some Things You Should Have Told Me'. It
is a remorseless meditation on loss and misadventure, pain and
impermanence, the inevitability of change. Questions are asked;
there are no answers.
'While looking through his contact sheets, Harvey Benge noticed
that one of his pictures reminded him of a 'Friedlander', another
someone else. All photographers do this, and if the photograph in
question apes another photographer too closely, it's usually a
cause for rejection. But Benge did the opposite. Picking out his
'Friedlander' and his 'Parr' and his 'Baltz' he decided to make an
'anthology' of contemporary photography featuring some of its
biggest names. Yet they are all genuine, original Benges. They are
also all good pictures, not mere pastiches of the 'originals' of
which they gently but insistently remind one. This may be a game,
but games can be very serious, and this fascinating book is both a
serious and light-hearted exploration of photographic style.' -
Gerry Badger.
In his quest for the bizarre and the absurd, Harvey Benge continues
to scavenge the urban landscape. Lucky Box - A guide to Modern
Living is his fifth book and as always Benge thrives on the
everyday moments of ordinary life, as he searches for the
ambiguities and tensions that lie behind modern urban living. This
is a journey of contrast and conflicts - frequently humorous and
often deeply disturbing.
|
Vital Signs (Hardcover)
Harvey Benge; Photographs by Harvey Benge
|
R624
R576
Discovery Miles 5 760
Save R48 (8%)
|
Ships in 12 - 17 working days
|
The photographs in Harvey Benge's fourth book, Vital Signs, were
made in Paris, London, Prague, Hong Kong, and beyond, and invite
the viewer to examine his or her own experiences of urban life.
Offering up both humorous and deeply disturbing images, Benge
questions the significance and substance of the many outwardly
bizarre constructs that form the urban landscape. Born in New
Zealand and now working in Paris, Benge has participated in
exhibitions worldwide in addition to publishing photographs in
numerous magazines.
|
Not Here, Not There (Paperback)
Harvey Benge, Peter Turner; Photographs by Harvey Benge
|
R501
R463
Discovery Miles 4 630
Save R38 (8%)
|
Ships in 12 - 17 working days
|
This collection combines humour and mystery to present a view of
contemporary urban life. It features photographs from many cities
including London, New York, Paris, Rome, Auckland and Sydney.
Directed by signs, lights, warnings, we are encouraged to conform.
But there are signs of dissent - small anarchies for the observant
- unexpected intrusions by the untamed world into this controlled
and controlling environment. The author sets out to illuminate
these intrusions and offer up their mystery and their intrigue. He
also maps the ambiguities and tensions in the urban environment of
the late 20th-century.
Photo artist Harvey Benge works and lives in Auckland and Paris.
Since the early 1990s his photography practice has investigated our
view of the world. Laced with irony and humor, Benge's photographs
reveal the strange absurdities of life. Moments of the everyday
flash with ambiguity and tension, contrast and conflicts. His new
body of work, "All the Places I've Ever Known," further considers
the nature of seeing. He shows us details of the world that are
sometimes bizarre and sometimes simply and surprisingly beautiful,
like a couple of red blossoms fallen onto rough pavement.
|
You may like...
Caracal
Disclosure
CD
R48
Discovery Miles 480
Wonka
Timothee Chalamet
Blu-ray disc
R250
R190
Discovery Miles 1 900
|