Jeff Wall is a Canadian born, Vancouver based photographer who specializes in back lit tableaux photographs of the city of Vancouver itself

Wall studied at the University of British Colombia and graduated with a masters degree in photography in 1970. In the same year he relocated to London to study for a post graduate degree at the courtyard institute, studying with Manet expert T.J Clark. He then went on to become the Assistant professor at Nova Scotia college of Art and Design from 1974-1975 and he then became the associate professor at Simon Fraser University, British Columbia from 1976-1987 whilst also teaching at The University of British Columbia.

Wall is renowned for his tableaux reconstructions of scenarios he had witnessed himself that were representative of the political environment at the time. His photos are always back lit and in a cinematographic style, Depicting more of a story through this means. Due to his tableaux style, His shoots often consisted of many people such as cast, crew as well as digital post production workers. Almost all of his shoots are centered around suburban Vancouver, world renowned for the relationship between the suburban environment and the rural environment. Many of the suburban areas have mountainous backdrops and are bordered by forests as well as having a substantial amount of urban architecture, which Wall finds to be a great way of providing contrast within an image.

Image Analysis

In Walls image ‘Parent Child’ we see a striking usage of colour. The green of the foliage and grass compared with the white shades of the wall and sidewalk as well as the vehicles in the road create a sense of elegance and almost calm. The blue of the sky above also depicts a sense of calm. The child on the floor seemingly sleeping calmly acts as a further metaphor for this portrayal of calm. The father looks over the child dressed in a pink vest and gray shorts, and judging by his slightly slouched posture and his tilted head, He is tired of his child playing games and playing around as he potentially may be on his way somewhere with her and she is holding him up. The image is very bright in itself and consists of high contrast colour to reflect the atmosphere of a sunny midsummer day. Overall there is a sense of serenity and happiness in the image and the person in the background on the scooter can be seen as representative of time passing by. This point is furthermore illustrated by the presence of people walking past the parent and child, just in front of them, with the subject on the left looking over his right shoulder to examine the scene presented before him. This makes us ask the question ‘What is it he sees’? Does he see a Child having a tantrum? Does he see a fed up father? Does he feel sorry for the father?.

Personal Opinion

Personally, I am a big fan of Wall’s work and his representation of modern day life in a suburban community. His usage of back lighting makes his images consistently bright and vibrant and allows for him to experiment with contrast between brighter and darker colors. Walls Tableaux approach is a method that I would like to replicate in my personal study, essentially creating everyday life scenes that appear candid in nature but are actually fully staged and instructed. This would aid me in portraying senses and feelings of occupation and liberty however I please, rather than waiting for an opportunity, I am able to capture exactly what I would like to achieve when I want to capture it.

Jeff Wall Image Analysis

In this image titled simply “Milk”, Wall has depicted a male holding a milk drink and squeezing it, causing the milk to erupt in the subjects hands. The subject is in full focus and the background seems to be that of the exterior of a well kept and clean building, Whereas the subject appears dirty and scruffy, With greasy hair and dirty clothes. This creates a contrasting image, With a sense of cleanliness making up the background with the focus being on the messiness of the main subject of the image. The explosion of the milk carton makes us question why this is happening. Is the man angry? is he undergoing stress? or is he potentially in a crazed mental state?. This image essentially allows for the critic to create their own context to the image and create their own story due to the multiple scenarios that may be at play here in a contextual mannerism. Wall quotes from his interview with David Campany ” I think the pictorial problems emerge from the accidental encounter that reveals the subject”. I find that his quote means in a sense that the use of the medium of photography has opened up a conversation regarding the issues the subject themselves could potentially be dealing with, and that photography can be used to portray an individuals expression of their inner selves. The composition of the image in terms of contrast plays a role in telling the story as well, As the background is bright, contrasted by the small shadow of the wall of the windowed building. The usage of tinted blue for the glass and the green of the plant give the background an uplifting feel due to the bright colours. However this is contrasted by the ragged appearance of the male subject in the foreground, Depicted by his dark coloured clothing and dark hair. The white of the milk drink exploding instantly draws us to the image due to the absence of white in the background as well as the shape and texture of the liquid itself captured in the time frame it was captured in. The explosion of the milk carton creates a dramatic contrast when observed in comparison to the solid, tranquil background of the image. The eruption of the milk itself creates a talking point. Why is the milk exploding in this manner? What is the subject currently feeling in terms of emotion? Was there an event that caused this reaction?

JEFF WALL

Jeff Wall is a Canadian artist who is best known for his large-scale photographs and theories on art history. In an interview which was conducted with Wall he said;

‘Not every image is (or wants to be, or needs to be) a tableau…and when an image isn’t as acutely composed, it has less presence as a tableau.‘ – this is suggesting that even if an image is directed/staged it doesn’t has to be categorized as a tableau, as you the photographer are adding your emotions and effects to it, making it an unique image,.

‘Photographers often want to treat a subject extensively, devote themselves to it and make groups or sequence of pictures about it. I do it to one image, and clear the debt in one throw of the dice‘

‘Subjects might have their own specific pictorial energy, but I don’t think they require any predictable way of being shown. So, I look forward to showing, ways of creating an appearance of something, whether it is a scene of tension or of something else.’ – this is suggesting that images can present different emotions, depending on how the photographer photographed their image and the meaning behind the image can help set the scene and emotion for a project or an individual image. Along with this, experimenting with how to present your work can be fun as you can show it in different ways, which can simple of unique.

‘Any slightly unusual subject would likely have to come to the artist through some sort of unexpected encounter. In the absence of such an encounter, you can still keep working by using once of the generic subjects as your starting point.’

‘there are simply NO RULES’ – from this quote, Walls is saying that there are no rules within photography. You can photograph what interests you and experiment it in different ways and it won’t be wrong as it is your view and perception on a certain genre and topic.

Technical; The lighting in the image is bright and sharp which contrasts against the dark, grey sky, the lighting is a natural source and the photo may have been slightly edited to make it brighter in certain areas. The image has a wide depth of field, this is due to the face the subjects are up close to the camera, yet you can see far down the street, making the image seem longer than it is. The color of the image is blue and grey, which gives off a cold effect and this is enhanced by the way the subjects are dressed as they are in coats.

Visual; Within the image there are three main subjects you can visually see, who are carrying luggage with them, they are also walking past traffic on an overpass. The lines created by the barriers of the left hand side of the image create a parallel effect for the image and these correspond with the shadows create on the floor and the line on the pavement. The shadows in the image give it a 3D effect.

Contextual/Conceptual; Within one of Walls interviews that I have looked at he said ‘Not every image is (or wants to be, or needs to be) a tableau…and when an image isn’t as acutely composed, it has less presence as a tableau.‘ part of this image may have been staged so Walls could get the affect of commuters he wanted but this image would’ve taken divers planning to photograph the people at the right time and to give off the correct emotion. As Wall said ‘Subjects might have their own specific pictorial energy‘, such as this image is presenting what it is like for travelers going to the airport, work, etc this images gives off the sense living and he is documenting what it is like for people living in different areas. The image is simple, but possess it’s own ‘pictorial energy‘ as photography has ‘NO RULES’ according to Wall, it is a free flow and everyone gets their inspiration from different subjects and whats to present their work in different way as mentioned when Wall expressed ‘I look forward to showing, ways of creating an appearance of something, whether it is a scene of tension or of something else.’, this scene carries some slight tension, the stress of having to be at a detestation will all your baggage both physically ad emotionally. Wall, throws everything he has at an image to give it a feeling of emotion and in this instance tension, which is present through the subjects and the dark sky as a background.