About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 2000)
< 4 : ] ART REVIEW by JENNIFER SCHULTZ IMAGES AS ICONS J. Phillip White is something of a magician, wielding an Exacto knife instead of a wand. He conjures complex coded illustrations and com pelling, powerful photomontage compositions out of not-so-thin air. He does this by reaching into the realm of the photojournalism the pop icon and the dizzying billions of images used to convey everything we know. He clips photos out of magazines, and recombines them. By recycling images from their original contexts and juxta posing them like free verse within unexpected realms, against alien skies, the artist creates a plane of altered reality wherein the mind takes intuitive leaps in order to make sense of what the eye sees. These leaps of imagination result in new symbols, new concepts bom within us, insights into our souls and the world around us. That is to say, by combining photos of a club full of foam-dancers, a Hindu god, some Mesopotamian wall carvings and an open book about birds of prey, White paints a scene from Purgatory complete with seething masses and the menacing Fates, or whatever else pops into his head, or yours. He does this very well, as evidenced by his Lowery Gallery exhibition, titled "Scenes from the Caverns of the Great Ravelled Knot." White is careful to dis tinguish between "pho tomontage" and "collage" when discussing his work. It's an important distinc tion. White has two degrees, one in Journalism from Auburn University and another in Photography from UGA. "Photomontage" is linked historically to works composed pri marily of photographic elements. The term "photomontage" was invented just after World War I, when the Dadaists needed a name to describe their technique of utilizing photo elements in their new works. While the Cubists and Futurists included "collaged" elements within paintings and drawings, Dadaists made the pho tographs or fragments of combined photographs the primary materials of the picture. The word became popular in the context of a legitimate art (or anti-art) movement. Its use was part of the Dada reaction against oil painting, an essen tially exclusive and unrepeatable artform. Photomontage was inspired by the world of mass-communication and photomechanical reproduction. Artists such as the great Hannah Hoch created startling, provocative pictures with just a few carefully trimmed images, culled from newspapers and exhibition catalogues. Surrealists, pursuing the "systematic derange ment of the senses," created photomontages typified by the works of Max Ernst and the American Joseph Cornell. White goes for a photographic quality of seamlessness in his work, careful to hide cut lines between pictures. He wants each piece to look, as he puts it, "visually plausible." He experimented with Photoshop for a time, but ultimately did not like the canned, cold look it gave his images. He feels he has more control working with a blade than by utilizing the mouse. He also found the gimmicky filters dis tracting, tempting the often-lazy imagination. He's not anti-technology; he simply prefers a dif ferent set of results. "The Hunt" has a very broad appeal and was the first piece purchased from the show. The image, composed of a herd of elephants, two nomadic-looking tribesmen and a geodesic dome, against a majestically stark natural background, conveys a universe of timeless cycles and con fronts the viewer with a sense of peace in mor tality. This image was reproduced as the show poster, also available. "Say more with less, that's my goal," says White. He does place importance on his titles, however. "There's a lot of politics in my work, but I try to incorporate a little humor also. I'm more about asking questions." A small piece titled "Resurrection" is a good example of this, containing what for some might be uncom fortable imagery. Jesus hangs on the cross in the foreground, surrounded by the 21st century's best medical personnel who confer with one another over the most elegant technique for res urrecting the Messiah. A group of onlookers resembling one of the National Conventions mills about beneath the ceiling of a large, cavernous room, waiting for a miracle. And a black velvet Elvis is mounted prominently on the rear wall, suggesting perhaps the Savior in a new suit of clothes. White's is an involuntary creative process, where images form directly out of the sub conscious as he gathers photo clippings from hundreds of National Geographic and Smithsonian magazines. "You can't force it," says the artist. "At least, I can't. The wonderful thing is the thrill-seeing what I end up with." Still, the artist's style and technique have evolved quickly. It should be noted that White spent many years as a practicing commer cial photographer in Atlanta before giving up and moving to Athens with his wife and child in order to take the plunge into making his own artwork. His photomontages evolved naturally from years of experimenta tion, but his entire body of work (some 30 pieces) was completed in the last five months. "Upon Witnessing the Changing of the Gods," an early piece, is very complex and concentrated in the foreground, almost two-dimensional. By con trast, more recent works like "Faux Pas" or "Michelangelo Meets Dali" contain within them more space, and much more "visual plausibility." "Michelangelo" is one of the strongest pho tomontages in the show, combining a "classical" view of a highly recognizable work by Dali with an ironic reference to environmental degradation and third world exploitation. Don't miss the five assemblages displayed in a comer, also by White. The legitimacy of pho tomontage (and collage) as art has been ques tioned rep f atedly through the years, but it's a style of expression that regularly experiences a popular resurgence. The sorcery of J. Philip White opens a doorway to the subconscious in eacn of us, and simultaneously, clarifies our day- to-day submersion in the world of imagery and the culture of communication. O WHAT: Photoaartagts by Mj> Whits WHERE: Lowery GaBery, 795-0102 WHEN: Through Od. 20 HOW MUCH: FREE! KARAOKE COMING SOON! Caledonia TUESDAY NIGHT Ladies’ Night 8PM-CL0SE $1.25 Reg. Bottle Beer Wl ;>ni..30a* CX l 4 CALL Thursday. OCT f> BRYAN STONE \ 8c BLAKE BRYANT ft Friday Oct G \ TANGENTS SATURDAY. Of I 7 CALL m nday Oct ‘J PATRICK CONNELL Tuesday Oct If) JAY BORCK The Ohms CD Release • American Tenants • ® • The Lures • BOB CD Release Plug Spark Sanjay ® * The Fountains • Flood City Shootout Bottom • Urban Henry NOW OPEN SATURDAYS UNTIL 2AM EVERY THURS. - $4.50 LITE & LITE ICE PITCHERS CnfUlc&t Beer Lit Touuc/ 1294 PRINCE AVE. • 548-8309 MONDAY THUNDER • Slot Car Racing Summer Hymns • Chris Lee I0.12 UrbosJtcks & Tjri • 10.14 Kick A Tims l Tki Pimbilitin r.vvn Five six vvect cltiijtron aXz Introducing Earth Fare s Veggie Breakfast Bar! f & laB Start your day off right at the Earth Fare cafe. Meet friends for a light, healthy breakfast featuring tofu scramblers, wraps and stir-fries. You won't find anything artificial-just home-made, delicious choices. And you decide how much, or how little, you would like at just $3.99 / lb. 'tic - f Veggie Breakfast Bar at Earth Fare-try it today! Mon-Sat 7am-10pm Sun 9am-9pm Earth Fare the healthy supermarket 1689 S. 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