William Klein + Daido Moriyama Tate Modern Study Visit 12th January 2013

My notes only scratch the surface of this enormous exhibition, this video gives a better idea:

This was a fascinating exhibition, as it was so large I could have easily returned a few more times as there was so much to see and take in. Both Klein and Moriyama had huge bodies of work spanning many decades and a range of formats, both are still working and are now in their 70's.

Both have used a variety of media over the years to push the boundaries of their art, Klein as an artist, film maker and photographer with a great many photo books to his name and Moriyama also with a great many photo books and as a magazine publisher.   

The exhibition starts with the work of William Klein, who began as a painter and graphic artist studying under Fernand Leger, there were a section of his graphic works, including the panels he had his wife move whilst he took images creating the interesting graphical images and patterns with which Klein became intrigued. 

The exhibition then moved into a room with enormous images, as this was the first time I'd looked at Klein's work the scale of the images blew me away. He gets up close to his subjects, in among the action, in many of his images there is someone looking at him in the crowd, sometimes suspiciously it seemed. There seemed to be a feeling of chaos which Klein had capture with the full, wide frames, some with blurring and a feeling of movement and action others were more controlled as in the one seen below with the fashion models who had been asked to walk back and forth over the zebra crossing with Klein taking images with a telephoto lens perhaps to be less obvious and therefore capturing the reactions of those around. 




I am now a big fan of William Klein, I enjoy his edginess and style. I definitely got the feel of an artist with a need to be creative, expressing his creativity through various media and not being afraid to re work previous images but with a different approach as seen in his stills of previous work which he's painted on re-creating them "The jubilation of painting recalled the celebration of taking the photo. For me, taking a photo was a celebration, was physical and gave me a super charge"

I felt so inspired by Klein's work, I have developed real a love of black and white, I enjoy the way is shows the image graphically but also timelessly and intend to use it more in my photography. I am also inspired to be less concerned about how perfect my images are and instead concentrate on conveying the message or feeling.  I don't think I'll be getting in the crowds with my camera as I am not sure that it would be appreciated, the world is a very different place now, I think people less afraid to challenge what they see and there is less of the innocence and fascination I saw in the faces of many of Klein's images. 

The exhibition moved through the many rooms of Klein's work through to the beginning of Moriyama:

This video I feel captures Moriyama perfectly. It shows him walking around the Tokyo  streets taking pictures on his compact camera. He has been described, following a particular image he captured, which became his signature image, as a 'stray dog', and that is certainly the feeling I got when looking at the exhibition, that he captured all areas of life. The video starts with him saying "I have always felt that the world is an erotic place. As I walk through it my senses are reaching out. For me cities are enormous bodies of people's desires. And as I search for my own desires within them I slice through time, seizing the moment. That's the kind of camera work I like" 

I would have preferred to take a break at this point as the Klein exhibition had been so intense and time consuming that the Moriyama exhibition wasn't given my full attention or energy.

I wasn't really drawn to Moriyama's work initially, maybe because the images weren't on the scale of klein's or maybe just because I was tired and need to freshen my eyes I suppose. But on reviewing his work more on returning home I find him quite fascinating, his work seems to show a mass of technique and styles that were simply too much to take in on the day. 

Moriyama's images seemed quite random in style which again gave the feeling of an artist with a need to create, this was reflected in the number of images in the exhibition was unfathomable. Some of his images were quite shocking, the aborted foetus which looked composed with consideration given to the lighting which only added to the macabre element of this image.  

Moriyama says: "my approach is very simple - there is no artistry, I just shoot freely. For me, photography is not about an attempt to create a two-dimensional work of art, but by taking photo after photo, I come close to truth and reality at the very intersection of the fragmentary nature of the world and my own personal sense of time" I did feel this in his work, the randomness of his images and dare I say many looked a little point and shoot and I struggled to warm to his work.

The Klein exhibition was a positive inspiring experience for me and am now a complete fan. 

The visit concluded with much valuable discussion with fellow students and OCA tutors over a cup of coffee. The exhibition was great experience, the study visit, as always, very rewarding. 

Then off into a very cold but always fabulous London!

Assignment 4 - Tutor Report

Overall Comments

You have some interesting images that show your developing creativity and readiness to experiment. While it’s good to adapt the brief to suit your own ends, it’s important to do so with an argued rationale.

While you are stretching the brief you don’t include in your notes/log why. The notion behind the assignment is to use lighting to bring out particular aspects of an object. While you have described how you have used lighting to do this in some of your images, in others you have used post production methodology to achieve particular effects. You don’t give any reason for this in your notes or log.

For example, you include the image “monochrome” but go into your rationale for using a black and white in any detail referring only to making a stark image. Your post production work seem to be occupying a greater precedence of your thoughts than the lighting.

You are keen to produce images that are inventive and explorative and have done so which is positive. But you don’t always categorise these in terms of the categories in the brief or go into detail of why you find these images interesting in terms of what the different lighting or post production techniques have achieved. It’s this aspect that you need to work on.

Feedback on assignment

In your “night light” you use a combination of candle light and light from the TV to produce an inventive combination of warm and cool light. But apart from “highlighting the rough edge of the wicker” you don’t discuss why you have used this particular effect; is it to emphasise texture, colour of the wicker, or another aspect? You have a narrow depth of field and have focused such that a large part of the wicker in the foreground is out of focus. This is a strong and interesting image but it doesn’t seem to illustrate one of the specified attributes in the brief or another of your own.

Another strong image is “course texture” It does bring out the texture well; again it has the narrow depth of field with the front of the wicker drifting out focus. To bring out texture focus is obviously important and I feel that the image would have been better if you have stopped down more to have more of the object sharp. You have used iso to give a feeling of “grain” while this can affect the “feel” of the image, the issue is how to use lighting to accentuate texture. This is usually achieved by strong directional side lighting. You don’t discuss the lighting used or the rationale behind it.

I like the framing of the wicker - the fact that you have avoided the “standard” central placing of the whole object in the frame.

Your other texture image which, by focusing on the cut ends of the wicker strands gives a different and interesting view. This demonstrates your thinking around the subject and coming up with a creative result. It is one that augments the feeling of texture by giving the close up view of the cut ends. The natural outdoors lighting gives an even overall light. Did you consider using more of a point source light? Pointing this to give a glancing light could have accentuated and darkened the spaces between the individual strands thereby strengthening the texture.

I’ve already commented on your monochrome image which does show up the overall shape well. Your post production changes bleaches out the detail of the individual strands and is an interesting alternative to the more usual silhouette lighting - but is using post production techniques rather than lighting. This image looks as if it uses very similar if not identical lighting to the side lighting colour image. So I’m not clear what your rationale is for including both these images.

Your form image uses natural daylight outside which gives an even overall lighting and this given the nature of the wicker (made up of the overall heart shape by a series of interwoven strands) allows a good appreciation of its form. You mention warming up the image by altering the white balance setting - what about using natural evening or morning light which tends to be warmer? You did in your “diagonal morning light” but have converted this to black and white. The glancing diagonal light with its light streaks makes for a an overall interesting image. It shows both shape and form but also picks out the texture where the streak falls across the wicker. It’s these sort of discussions that would be worth considering and addressing at least in your log.

Your shape image uses backlighting and forms a semi silhouette. You are still able to see detail in the individual strands and so perhaps had some degree of top lighting. If you had used only the back light exposing for  the light you could have produced more of complete silhouette. Would the concentration on the overall “heart shape” been worth considering as you already have images showing detail of the strands? See my altered image.

Lastly your colour image: again it’s good to see you being inventive and using your pink scarf as a way to influence the colour of the light. Also your camera angle to give the floating feeling. It’s good to see the selective focus in this image; this time it works well with the front focused and gradually drifting out towards the back. The concentration on the front can be accentuated by darkening the amount of light towards the back giving more of a graduated effect. I would suggest considering increasing the contrast as the wicker itself looks a little flat. This coupled with increasing the saturation brings out the warm tones fringing the wicker. See a suggestion which includes artificially darkening the back of the image:

 

Study visit to Press Association, Nottingham

Study visit to the Press Association, Nottingham. About 10 students met outside the entrance, while we waitied for everyone to arrive it gave everyone a chance to have a chat and get to know each other. We were taken inside the building to a board room where we were brought a selction of hot and cold drinks, plates of sandwhiches, crisps and biscuits, what a nice welcome!

We were given a tour of a very dynamic and exciting environment with a real buzz, many areas of this organisation would be interesting to work in, sales, production, research. At every turn there seemed to be large plasma TV's with the BBC news channel on, many staff had at least 3 monitor at their desks and most had large Apple Mac monitors, I would love to work here! The tour took us into the archives was interesting, which was what we were there for. Glass slides from the 1800's are kept there, we were even treated to an original slide of the Titanic! A great many celebrity images could also be seen, one's that had and hadn't made it into the public eye.

There was discussion around sending the PA images (press asssociation) down the 'wire' which meant that the image had first gone through a process of checking it was 'real', that it had actually happened and that it was taken by the person it 'belonged' to. The PA have 18 employed photographers, all based in London, each are given their specalty. The PA don't buy image from the public often it seemed, it would have to be something quite special and would have to satisfy the same rigourous checks. The PA clearly have very high standard.

What a great visit, really interesting, it has opened up ideas of possible areas to seek employment in the future.

Book review - 'Infidel', Tim Hetherington and 'Outposts', Donovan Wylie

Infidel - Tim Hetherington and Outposts - Donovan Wylie
I chose to review both these books as they show images from the same conflict, I was interested to see how they differ in style. The first book I reviewed was Infidel by Tim Hetherington. This book appears to be in the style of a journal on the surface having a faux leather cover and being A5 in size which feels nice to hold and fits nicely in the hands. Infidel is an intimate portrait of a single U.S. platoon, assigned to an outpost in the Korengal Valley-an area considered one of the most dangerous Afghan postings in the war against the Taliban. I felt an instant warmth with this book. There is a certain charm about it, an intamacy between the viewer and the soldiers not really portrayed in the media. The book shows the soldiers living through a situation that I imagine is little understood by those who have never served. The images tell a story of life in a war zone, with humour and warmth coupled with a certain level of anticipation. The men play cards, laugh and mess around together even playing guitar hero on a games console. There are photo's and sketches of their tatoo's which they gave to each other which gives a feeling of closeness between the men. What made me feel closer to these images were the pictures of their families, the images of them sleeping, which in another review was described as 'boys sleeping, like their mothers remember them', so true. I found the portraits touching as many are close up, you look into the eyes of these young men who are ready to fight at any given time with the possibility of a deadly outcome. Looking into their eyes you see a father, a son, a brother and you are left with a feeling of wanting to know they are ok, you feel a connection with them as individuals.
The second book I reviewed was 'Outposts' by Donovan Wylie. This too is a lovely book to look at in its horizontal format. The book shows images taken in the Kandahar Proince from 2006 - 2011. The images show forward operating bases built during this time. These outposts were constructed by military engineers as a network throughout the province, built on promontories with multiple lines of sight. My initial thoughts are those of bland documentary images, from a hilltop, of man made structures, some with rows of military vehicles, some with ariels for communication, they all blend into the vast landscape. The photo's are taken at a distance, almost like viewing war at a distance, those that included people show them almost as ants, whereas Infidel showed close up portraits. These images show jagged mountain ranges overlooking vast desert plains. The images give the feeling of surveillance, of territory, of control but strangly in a neutral position, whereas Infidel evokes emotion for the viewer by the personal depth of Hetheringtons images. Donovan's book seems to be a book of archtechture of conflict yet calm and non-judgemental whereas Infidel is a personal book showing the lives of men living in war. One book shows war at a distance, the other right in the front line. Donovan's is a socially significant book, Hetherington's a personal portrait. My feelngs on the books, I preferred Hetherington's style, I enjoyed the warmth, and the portrayal of soldiers doing their job, the almost shocking contrast of 'boys sleeping' and men ready to fight and playing cards inbetween, this gave a feeling of how it really is, a snapshot of behind the lines.

Assignment 1 - Tutor Report

Tutor report

 

Overall Comments

I think that you have got some good images in your assignment. I like the way

you have thought carefully about what it is you want to photograph;

concentrated on this and excluded other material from the image. Great!

You have taken the trouble to come up with some good compositions for what

on the face of it are some straight forward ideas. Your images are by and

large sharp - although some may seem a little suspect - and well exposed.

The image files that you have attached to your email are however, small -

averaging around the 50 - 60 k. While this is fine for quickly viewing the whole

image on the screen, I would find it useful to have larger size files to work with

rather than downloading the original files from your flickr site.

You will also need to think about this aspect when considering how you are

going to submit your work for formal assessment. If you are going to rely on

electronic images rather than physical prints then the assessors will

appreciate quick and easy access to top quality, high resolution images. While

I appreciate you have these on your flickr site, downloading them from here is

fairly laborious and time consuming and you may want to think about how

assessors can navigating through the images quickly and easily.

Inevitably, there are areas where I think you can improve on and I’ll go into

these in my commentary on the individual images. The main thing to bear in

mind is that this is your opportunity to experiment with ideas and techniques

and develop your own style. A key attribute to go hand in hand with the

experimentation is to recognise issues, develop solutions and learn from

mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes and plenty of them.

Also worth mentioning is that I don’t believe there is a right and a wrong way

of doing things - there are different opinions and there are bound to be

different points of view. I may well say things that you disagree with - that’s

fine but it is important to be able to put forward a cogent to support your

views.

My style of commentary is to pose alternatives, ask questions and suggest

where I think improvements could be made; this is to give you the chance to

think about alternatives. It is then for you to decide if you agree or not.

While you have some good images, I think that some of them are too literal in

their interpretation of the topic. This assignment is concerned with expressing

the ESSENCE of each contrast in pictures. It isn't enough, as some student

do, just to photograph something big or some thing small, or something high

up and something low down. It is the ESSENCE we are after, the feeling of

height or smallness conveyed in the picture. The assignment is intended to

open your eyes to the main characteristic of a subject and explore how best to

interpret this visually.

Another point is that I believe each image ought to illustrate the topic on its

own without being viewed in conjunction with the other image of the pair.

Many students rely too much on being seen as a pair. If viewed alone some

loose their effectiveness. I think that you have by and large avoided this. Well

done!

Assessment potential (after Assignment 1)

“Formal Assessment: You may want to get credit for your hard work and

achievements with the OCA by formally submitting your work for assessment at the

end of the module. More and more people are taking the idea of lifelong learning

seriously by submitting their work for assessment but it is entirely up to you. We are

just as keen to support you whether you study for pleasure or to gain qualifications.

Please consider whether you want to put your work forward for assessment and let

me know your decision when you submit assignment 2. I can then give you

feedback on how well your work meets the assessment requirements.”

Feedback on assignment

Rough/Smooth

These images work well as a pair and as individual images. You have chosen

a day with good lighting conditions to shoot the rough bark image. The side

lighting generates the shadows that give the feeling of relief and texture.

You have wisely chosen a reasonable aperture and shutter speed to keep the

image sharp.

Filling the frame as you have concentrates the eye on the bark but also, in an

odd way, makes the image rather two dimensional to my mind (in spite of the

good lighting) and lacking in reference points to how you normally “see” a tree

trunk that is the cause. There is little indication of size - is the trunk 5 or 6 feet

across, bigger or smaller than this? Does it matter and impact on the feeling

of roughness? Would it have been better to have included a branch coming

out of the bark?

The Smooth image is another good one - I think you were wise to go for the

natural light of the “outside”. The large expanse of the open sky acts as a

huge light source that gives even but directional lighting from above that has

resulted in the accentuation of the smooth shape of the almonds. The narrow

depth of focus throwing the almonds behind the main one out of focus brings

a soft fuzzy feel to the image that emphasises “smooth”.

It’s difficult to see the exact point of focus and it may be that using many close

up lenses has resulted in nothing being “pin sharp”. I would have tried for

getting the rim outline of the central almond sharp. Printing out an 30x40

image to form part of an exhibition may well bring out any shortcomings of

focus. As such it’s always a good idea to consider what the final outcome of

an image is going to be. An image in a book measuring 12 inches by 10 is

going to have different requirements to an image that is 2 meters by 1.5 in an

exhibition. Also, I might have wetted the almond to make it glisten as a way of

emphasising the smoothness. all these are just ideas. You have got a good

image here.

Curved/Straight

Another good pair of contrasting images. They are well exposed and

composed. But I do feel that they are a little ambiguous in their illustration of

the topic: Both have very strong very similar diagonal components to their

composition and so in one sense could be illustrations of “diagonal”.

The curved image is an image of curved objects and uses this to convey the

impression of “curvedness” How is this a better image to illustrate this trait

than say the sugared almonds? One thought that I did have was to use

photoshop to purposely morph the stones into a curved shape that people

would recognise as being manipulated into a curved shape - see my

suggestion:

You may think that this is an undue and inappropriate use of post production

manipulation - it’s for you to think about and decide what you think.

The straight image does as you say have a multitude of straight lines and as

such is a good direct illustration well executed. (I can’t get away from that very

strong diagonal).

But what about a more oblique interpretation: “straight talking”, looking

“straight in the eye” - being unevasive, “going straight” keeping off crime or

drugs the list goes on and one secret to great imagery is finding a way to

make yours stand out from the crowd of more obvious ones.

Diagonal/Rounded

Both of these are well executed images - I love the symmetry of the diagonal

image. But I just don’t think it’s a good illustration of the topic - I thin that your

straight image could well be thought of as the diagonal image - a little obvious

perhaps but perfectly reasonable. I feel the beams that you refer to as

“diagonal” are more “curved” to me and form an arc.

Your rounded image I feel is much better - the frame is filled with “rounds”.

Not only in the individual windows but in the arch above them. I like the crop

that you have used cutting into the circles at both the bottom and the top.

Many/Few

I like the thinking around the “few” image but have a couple of points:

First I’m not convinced that the beans are sharp. There could be a variety of

reasons for this:

• you may have been using the lens at it’s maximum aperture, stopping

down a couple of stops would have improved things,

• hand holding the camera with a shuter speed of 1/50th may have

introduced some very slight camera shake

Second, I’m not convinced about the imagery here. Yes I think it’s ok but I feel

that a lot of other thoughts would pass through people’s minds looking at this

image. I grant you that “few” may be one of the thoughts, but it would be

accompanied by a lot of others and the trick is to reduce the number of other

thoughts. I think you could have conveyed “few” better by photographing the

two or three beans left in the bottom of the tin.

You may disagree totally with me and that’s fine but as I mentioned in my

opening remarks you need to have a good argument to support your thoughts

and at present your commentary accompanying the image doesn’t go into this

aspect. all it does is to explain “what” you did, not “why”

The many image works for me - like the rounded image this image jsut shouts

many. I like the way that you have filled the frame with the pins. The image is

interesting in its use of pins with coloured heads. You could have used plain

pins and although the message would perhaps have been the same - many -

it wouldn’t have been so pleasing to look at.

Blunt/Sharp

Again, you have chosen to use the attributes of an object to illustrate the

topics. There’s nothing wrong with this, I only want you to think about a topic

laterally as a way of opening you up to other possibilities of using photography

as an illustrative medium. Your blunt image is fine as the contrast to the sharp

image but if viewed just by itself I feel it is less effective. Also, the end of the

post isn’t quite sharp.- you have used an unsual positioning of the “blunt end”

in that it occupies only the bottom half of the frame. Did you consider

vignetting the top of the image? You could also increase the contrast of the

end of the post to emphasise the rings in the wood. - see my example and

make up your mind if you think it

helps.

Your sharp image is a good one and

uses a good display of sharp objects

- but you have made it work well by

how you have framed the display.

Well done. But, again I’m a little

worried about how sharp the image

is. looking at the image on flickr the

tips of the bayonets seem definitely

out. I’m not sure if this is due to you

using maximum aperture, a slow

shutter speed with the camera being

hand held, a lack of “sharpening”

being applied to the image or what.

What ever it is you need to look into

this.

Moving/Still

I think that the moving image works

well you have made good use of the

slow shutter speed to blurr the

movement of the chairs but have

kept the tower sharp. In addition to

this you have cropped and framed the tower well to make a good image. Well

done! The converse image is also great. I love the thought behind the image:

a once moving animal renown for its movement stuffed and hung on the wall -

quintessentially still - it’s dead! There are some “interesting” shadows being

cast by the head I don’t know if this was due to ambient lighting or what. I

would normally try to minimise these somehow.

Hard/Soft

The hard image works well again you have used the attributes of an object to

depict the topic. Also you have used the same technique as the “rough” image

ie filling the frame with the subject. My comments are similar - the image is a

bit two dimensional. Also you could swap the two images round and argue

that the tree bark could be illustrating hard and the stone wall illustrating

“rough”. I realise this is being a bit harsh on you but I’m only pointing out how

you perhaps need to get away from a literal illustration of the topic. From our

previous experience of stone we know it is hard and your image relies on this.

It’s a perfectly good image. But, what you need to be starting to develop is

how to use photography in a different way to illustrate something. Look at a

familiar object or topic in a different way. Using a different example- war there

are many well worn images showing the brutality and suffering but some

photographers concentrate on different aspects - look at some of Tim

Hetherington’s work.

The soft I feel is less successful. It’s a perfectly good image but I wonder if

soft is really the main attribute conveyed here. Also I think the image is slightly

over exposed and in your post production removing the enclosure you have

introduced some artifacts - on the end of the cub’s nose, around the forehead

and ears. See my darkened

image and see if you think

this is better.

small/large

The small image is a good

one and I think the large

image is fine but again you

are relying on prior

knowledge of the objects

tower and how small/big

they are.

I like the arrangement of the

pins and the narrow depth of

focus makes an interesting

image.

I like how you have filled the

frame with the tower but wondered if you could have introduced some other

reference point - a figure perhaps - to give a comparable reference point to

illustrate size.

Combined image

Curved and straight

Another good image and one that again relies on a literal depiction of the

topics - that’s not to say this is, only it’s a little obvious and there will be many

other similar illustrations the trick is to find a way to make your iamges stand

out from the others.

Learning Logs/Critical essays

Your learning log is good in that it is recording what you are doing and going

into how you feel about things. It’s good to see you getting along to exhibitions

and reading what I think you need to be logging is how other photographers

have tackled things, what you feel about this - agree/disagree, like/dislike but

more than this , go into why as well as what

.

For example in your blog commentary about the exercise cropping, you

comment on what you think will improve things and record how you tried to

crop out the path in the foreground but decided against this because it “took

the balance away from the photo”. I would suggest a couple of things - do

some research on the maritime museums looking at how other photographers

have cropped their images and comment on how they compare and secoond

perhaps go into mre detail about what is it that is “out of balance” is it lack of

contrast between the grass and pavement or what?

Suggested reading/viewing

In addition to Graham Clarke’s book - the Photograph I think another useful

book is Simon Shore’s The Nature of photographs as it looks at different ways

of looking at and understanding photographs. I have mentioned Tim

Hetherington and in particular his work documenting the war in Afghanistan

would be worth looking at and by comparison Donovan Wylie’s recent work

Outposts also in Afghanistan but from a very different perspective.

Pointers for the next assignment

The next assignment is all about elements of design and how to use them in

producing a photograph. You need to focus on going into more detail about

your thoughts behind your images - you do show that you can produce

interesting images - this is an opportunity to develop these aspects and

experiment with composition and framing.

 

Student feedback:

This image of 'blunt' has been amended taking the advice of my tutor, I've increased the contrast of the end of the wooden pole and added a vingnette effect

Thomas Demand in conversation, Nottingham Contemporary

Thomas Demand in Conversation
with Joseph Grima
12 Apr 2012

A rare chance to hear Thomas Demand speak about his work, in conversation with Milan-based architect, researcher and editor in chief of Domus magazine, Joseph Grima.
They will be discussing the research that Demand has undertaken at the Getty institute and the resulting body of work exhibited for the first time at Nottingham Contemporary, as well as architectural issues in his work in general.

Thomas Demand's work is discussed in a book I am reading called 'The Photograph as Contemporary Art' his unusual methods such as reproducing scenes out of styrofoam paper & card sound quite fascinating, I look forward to seeing his work.

Andy Wallis Photography workshop, Nottingham

Attended an Andy Wallis Photography Workshop last night in Nottingham. I'd booked this course some months before I enrolled on the OCR course and hoped it would turn out to be a useful addition to my studies.This was a DSLR beginners workshop, it covered aperture, shutter speed, ISO, metering modes, white balance and composure. The content of the course has aided my understanding of the technical elements of using my camera and with composure. I feel ready to start my first assignment now.

Visit to Nottingham Contemporary

Contemporary Art Gallery - interesting art exibition by Klaus Weber 'If you leave me I'm not coming'.

Next photography exibition coming up is around January 2012 by Thomas Demand, a leading German artist. Demand will be presenting a new series of photographs for the first time at Nottingham Contemporary which were found when Demand was researching the archives of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. 'Demand's beautiful photographs seem organic, as they scrutinize the worn, physical models from different angles and distances. Close-up the models look almost abstract, recalling the history of Modernist painting and sculpture'. Must attend!