February 16, Ode to Joel-Peter Witkin

© 2010 Susannah Storch

Joel-Peter Witkin gave a lecture at CU last night. Since it is not often that famous photographers make it out to Boulder, Colorado, I had to go, even though his work is not among my favorite. Of course, I am glad I went.

I learned that his images are not collaged pieces, which is what I assumed. Instead, he makes elaborate backgrounds and objects as needed. Wow! Up close, the photos looked almost like illustrations. I learned that he is a fan of printing his own work in the darkroom, and often scratches negatives to gain the look he wants. Also, he basis a lot of his work off of famous paintings...his work is not a lot of "nonsense." He uses a lot of body parts from unidentified dead people, but he thinks his work portrays hope and not just forboding and death. I will need to further assess that one!

Since I didn't have much free time to take photos yesterday, I spruced up this one that I took on the way home last night. I dedicate this to Jennifer and Romano. Of course, it lacks the meaning and multiple layers of Witkin's work, but I am on a time crunch people.