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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty Nine: Juxtaposition – compare and contrast for meaning > Crypt, The Cloisters, New York City, 2006
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03-AUG-2006

Crypt, The Cloisters, New York City, 2006

My goal was to simplify this tomb, part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s medieval collection on display at its Cloisters branch. I chose to do it by juxtaposing the horizontal figure with the vertical arch soaring overhead. The contrast between the vertical and horizontal elements here is stark and filled with tension. By cutting the arch in half and running its inner edge diagonally from corner to corner, the image become abstracted – leaving completion of both the arch and the reclining figure to the viewer. I further abstract this image by converting it to black and white, draining all signs of life from both figure and arch.

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Phil Douglis03-Oct-2006 06:28
Thanks, Zandra, for pointing out the symbolism of the dark face juxtaposed against the bright chest. It did not occur to me when I made it, but now when I look at it, that is what I see. Mortality (dark) vs. immortality (light). Thanks for pointing it out and for relating this universal mixture of good and bad to mankind as a whole.
Guest 29-Sep-2006 14:11
I can see my own hand in this picture Phile. Composed in a way that i could see myself composing it. Abst5rcting it and making it in to my own art just as you did here. Indeed, ther is a lot of tension created in compsing it in this way. One ting which strikes me is how the faced is kept in the dark...as if a vail of death is covering it. However his chest...is hart is covered in light. The combination gives me mixed feelings. Hope and dispare in one image. Purity in hart but with a sinfull mind. It pretty much symbolises humanity. Noone is utterly good or bad, we have a bit of both and we do our best with the tools that we have at hand.
Phil Douglis17-Aug-2006 03:24
You raise the issue of perspective here, Ceci. It is fascinating how an image made from one point of view can cause others to view it from another. Your view of this image as humanized by black and white is also important -- I see the black and white treatment as an abstraction that drains life from the subject by taking away the warmth of its color tonality. Yet you see it softening the image and making it more human and less deathly. Neither of us is right or wrong. We simply are interpreting the effect of black and white differently because of how we see the function of black and white itself. While you see it as a humanizing force, I am seeing it as a symbolic abstracting force. It simplifies the image and makes it timeless. Just like death. I have converted several other sculptural images to black and white, for the same reason: the facade of the Rubens House athttp://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/45582476, a sepia toned black and white of a Bishop's tomb athttp://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/45582846, and the tomb of a medieval warrior athttp://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/33921375 . You might want to read the dialogue I had with Jen Zhou and Marek Warno on that last image. They convinced me to change it from color (it was originally brownish orange) to black and white. Since then, I find myself leaning to black and white to abstract iconic images of death related subjects such as these.
Guest 17-Aug-2006 02:51
I love the figure silhouetted in the shadow, his peaceful expression and the massive stones arching up -- as though his soul was ascending into the heavens There is also a sense of someone taking a nap behind a thick wall, if you look down at it, from above. The figure would then be lying on his side, albeit rather stiffly. To me, the black and white treatment of this cleanly abstracted figure softens and humanizes it, rather than the contrary. Thank you for this brief visit to the Cloisters, reminding me of the one time I was there on a school trip, long ago.
Phil Douglis16-Aug-2006 21:45
Do so, by all means, Ai Li. Less is more is easily said, but less easily accomplished. More than anything else, it requires respect for the viewer's intelligence and imagination. All too many photographers routinely "show the whole thing" in their images because they are afraid that people "won't get it" if they only show part of it. I have always held the human imagination in high regard. I leave things out of my pictures because I want my viewers to do some of the work. I see my images as a trigger, a catalyst, a starting point. My viewers, people such yourself, have the ability to take it from there and make their own art out of it.
AL16-Aug-2006 08:22
Well said by Jen and explained by you, Phil. I shall continue to study this strong image, its composition and abtraction, in awe. Less is more.
Phil Douglis15-Aug-2006 20:01
Making art out of someone else's art is not easy. We must respect the intentions of the artist and use those intentions to express how we feel about what he or she has created. And that is what you see here, Jen. When you say that the arch seems to deliver the soul of the man into the heavens, that is precisely what the artist who created this tomb wanted to do. The gothic arch itself can be seen as a metaphor for the ascent to heaven. But the architect of this tomb could not do what I have done -- using only half an arch -- or his building would have collapsed. As a photographer I can simplify through abstraction, juxtaposing only half the figure with only half an arch, and leaving the rest to the imagination of my viewers. You are right --my abstraction and juxtapositon creates a symbol rather than descriptive fact. It becomes an image about spirituality rather than a postcard of a medieval tomb. Thank you, Jen, for grasping the essence of this shot. Now put it to work in your own expressive imagery.
Jennifer Zhou15-Aug-2006 13:21
The artistic touch of the composition and juxtaposition makes all the difference.. I guess for many people, we would compose the picture in horizontal format to show the whole body and the arch.. But you didn't, you abstracted it and made an art out of art. It become a symbol rather a descriptive fact of a lying statue. The arch for me becomes something spiritual, it is like delivering the soul of the man into the heaven.. Great great work Phil!
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