A Response to “Layers of Reality”
In Robert Shore’s publication of “Layers of Reality”, he views the application of photography past simple documentation. In this reading, various methods of manipulation, physical or digital, are discussed and the response that these artists elicit in their audience. Johnathan Lewis’ Designer Labels series creates an experience of digital surrealism through the use of pixelization. Despite the removal of information through this process, the content of the images is still communicated. High contrast of lit storefronts against the darker outer world create visually stunning pieces. Furthering the contrast is the apparent wet, rainy environment outside the lit storefronts that reflect the light cast from indoors. This contrast speaks to me the desirability of material goods and of the outside world looking in. This combined with the pixelization evokes an almost dystopian nature to modern day consumerism and technophilia.
Shore, Robert. “Layers of Reality.” Post-Photography: The Artist with a Camera. London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd., 2014. 73-103. Printed
Johnathan Lewis
Sonia Rykiel
from Designer Labels, 2009