Artist Reference 2: Observe, Seek & Challenge – Tom Hunter

Tom Hunter does similar style photos to Philip-Lorca diCorcia with the still, staged photos with the theme of loneliness. Also, Tom Hunter is a London-based British artist working in photography and film. His photographs often reference and reimagine classical paintings.

Emotional: The effect of these images makes me feel sadness, with a use of loneliness joined, this is because a lot of his photos are very dull, dark and gives a ‘lost’ sense in them. There is no stereo type for them but it shows how they might not have money or might be struggling with something. They also have no emotion in their faces, which help express the sadness and depression.

Visual: These photos are very central based with the person being the main focus in their environment. They are also on the darker shade of editing with commonly not looking at the camera with light coming in either through the natural light like the window, or the sun on the woman in the grass, or an electrical light like the lamp on the second photo, but even the lamp makes the photo look dull.

Technical: The people are always in the centre of the photo or if there is two people like the first one with the woman and her baby, they are both evenly each side with the woman holding a piece of paper in the centre of the photo.

Conceptual: These photos make theses subjects look lonely or make them look like they are struggling with something to showcase it through the photos that many people wouldn’t expect with their day to day lifes.

Contextual:

All of these photos have a similar theme with both women in the last two photos by themselves expressing sadness, or being lost, or almost having an idea of ‘no plan for their life’.

The first photo involves a women with her baby in a house/flat that looks run down, whilst looking at her bills or some piece of paper to do with money. This gives an idea to the photo that she might not have enough money to support herself and her baby and doesn’t know what to do.

I can use Tom Hunter as another artist reference because firstly, he has similar photos to Philip-Lorca diCorcia but also, for my actual photoshoot theme, with the basketball player/team, I can photoshoot them ‘expressing sadness’ after a game loss, or maybe photoshoot the whole team happy celebrating together after a win, but then focusing on one player after they all leave and go home with him regretting plays and mistakes he made during the game linking back to the sadness.

One thought on “Artist Reference 2: Observe, Seek & Challenge – Tom Hunter”

  1. Too brief and simplistic.
    You must add deeper analysis and interpretation,
    Start by cross referencing Tom Hunter’s work with the paintings that he is referencing.
    Discuss, describe and explain the examples…it is ok to have more questions than answers !

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