April 2012
17 posts
Norton, Alexander: THE DAILY MENTION →
alexandernortonblog.tumblr.com
Maurice Van Es
Todays post is a particular hero of mine, in terms of photography, and an inspiration in my own work over the past year. When in Holland, we caught up on each others work and I found it fascinating how our practices crossed paths, so much so it made me sad about my own work. He focuses on family, however reveals very small details around that certain family member each time, something I find fascinating as the subject is rarely directly referenced. The use of flash and colour is certainly used to great effect. With patterns and colours, they comfort us, yet reveal an essence of each family member. They are also revealing of the nature of home, something we all relate to in daily life.
Maurice photographs the hidden, the hidden areas of peoples lives, with a simple striking approach. Carefully gathering each family member into a visual file it seems, with striking colours that begin to mould a form that visualises the structure of family life. I particularly enjoy his approach to photographing people, revealing little of their appearance and we find ourselves searching the tops of peoples head, with the colours of their clothes and state of their hair to make a judgement. However as a collection of photographs, you can begin to get a sense of the person he is tip toeing around.
His series on his blog is a diary, which is a description of the things he sees, and it is interesting to see how that makes a connection to the series he puts together. From the first post to the last post you can see progression in style, ideas and the subject he is interested in. I guess you could say the work is dutch to a certain degree, however he seems to take that style but at the same time create something new from that inspiration. He is portraying people without taking their picture.
Cameras block faces, actions prevent us seeing facial details and the environments around them are forced to do the talking, which is both visually and conceptually intelligent.
There is something so exciting about out of date floral patterns. These images force us to remember them, as they kind of get imprinted in the back of our minds.
He is a particular influence of mine, and I hope you can see why.
ALL THE IMAGES ARE MAURICE’S
Blank starting points
In this series I photographed traces of daily activity in my parental house.
Looking at these traces makes me fantasize of what possibly could have happened. You can find these places in your own house too.
Textures of childhood
A close-up journey through my old family photo album which focusses
on details of things I saw everyday at that time.
