Steve Poxson’s photography creates images that present the world through a unique viewpoint, creating images that show us objects under a new light. He creates images unconventionally, playing with the process of photography and what this will represent in the image itself.
Poxson is fascinated by the way the photograph can confuse the viewer, turning their beliefs and ideas on their head, which has inspired his series ‘Abnormal Beauty’. In this series he displays conventionally beautiful items, such as flowers and butterflies, juxtaposed with objects which do not conform to our typical ideas of beauty including animal skulls and offal,…
Steve Poxson’s photography creates images that present the world through a unique viewpoint, creating images that show us objects under a new light. He creates images unconventionally, playing with the process of photography and what this will represent in the image itself.
Poxson is fascinated by the way the photograph can confuse the viewer, turning their beliefs and ideas on their head, which has inspired his series ‘Abnormal Beauty’. In this series he displays conventionally beautiful items, such as flowers and butterflies, juxtaposed with objects which do not conform to our typical ideas of beauty including animal skulls and offal, to create a striking image.
In the age of digital photography Poxson is reinventing this form by emulating the early processes of the photogram. To create his alluringly decorative images, the photographer places the objects that interest him on a flat bed scanner, through which he is able to elevate these objects into something extraordinary, whilst questioning what a photograph really is and how we understand the medium of photography.
The objects are scanned at a high resolution preserving a density of detail that is beyond the limits of the human eye. This places them almost into a hyper reality where the viewer feels like they can almost reach out and touch them. The verisimilitude of the images coupled with the choice of objects creates a confusing situation for the viewer; do they really want to examine these objects up close or do they want to relish in the detail of the disgusting and grotesque?
The images are at once enticing and repulsive; viewers are drawn into examining them by their detailed actuality and their attractive arrangement yet on closer inspection they are disgusted by what some of these objects actually are. The photographer invites the viewer to find the beauty of these objects by presenting them to us in this way and questions their ability to do so. Will the intense detail serve to deepen their understanding of what they are looking at? Will the grotesque or the macabre be transformed through presentation?
The ‘Abnormal Beauty’ series was selected by Creative Review in their photography category of their ‘Best Degree Show Work 2007’ and ‘Abnormal Beauty 1’ was chosen to promote the Lux Festival 2007.
