Jeff Wall at Glenstone Museum

“Pictures, by nature, suspend narrative. …I see the viewer as a writer: the viewer narrates. People are telling themselves stories, and the stories connect to them personally, which is why the work means something to them. We can relate to these things.” -#JeffWall
On view at Glenstone until March 13, “Jeff Wall”, a monographic exhibition of pictures by Canadian conceptual photographer Jeff Wall.
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Video by Rava Films

[@matthiasstjohn3]

I first saw his work in 2007 in Chicago. I had purchased and 8x10 camera a few months prior it was an incredible experience to see the capablites of what I had just acquired.

[@WhiteCubeOfficial]

🤩🤩🤩

[@lovewant]

Yes

[@surreallife777]

I’m a photographer. I do abstract graphic color photography and black-and-white surreal images using film.
My friend is a well-known photographer in Europe and has exhibited widely. Looking at my friends images always triggers an emotional response from me in terms of design and meaning. I will give you both of our opinions about Jeff Walls images later.
Lets say you have an image that you printed to a size of 20 x 24“ and you think that this image has an emotional visual impact as a work of art, but not quite enough of it. The way to increase the visual impact of this piece of art is to print it to a very large size.
This gives a mediocre to average work of art a sense awe which increases the visual impact of an image as related to it being art. It’s kind of like walking into a cathedral as compared to walking into a small old cabin. Big has more of a psychological impact on human beings, big is more intimidating and awe inspiring.
On the other hand, if you have work of art that is considered by critics and the general public alike to be exceptionally good and the artist created this work of art decides to enlarge it to a very large scale, this would be fine because the inherit structure of this work of art is exceptionally good at any scale.
Enlarging a mediocre work art to a very large scale is an attempt by the artist who created the work of art and make into something more than it really is as a work of art.
My friend and I both initially looked at Jeff Walls graveyard photo and his other works and we both concluded that as a general rule his art is good to mediocre but definitely not to the tune of a value $3.4 million for one of his prints. He does have some exceptionally good images, but there is a general rule I don’t feel an impact when I see his images.
I remember years ago going to Jeff’s exhibition at the Vancouver art gallery with the photographer Fred Hertzog and Trevor Martin who is a well-known photographic printer in Vancouver.
One of Jeff Walls images on display was a kid hiking up a snowy ledge and printed very large scale and it was back lit. When we were looking at this image, I told Fred and Trevor that it looks like a standard commercial stock image that you can purchase from any agency. They both agreed with me.
This Jeff Wall image was completely devoid of any meaning as a work of art except for its massive size. Jeff Wall is compensating for his inability to produce meaningful work of art at all sizes when displayed.
Size matters, but size alone cannot transform a mediocre work of art into a great work of art unless the current art movement decides to do so, which happens quite often.
Michael Pantazis

[@carbonc6065]

No.