Typology is the investigation of different sorts of things that look similar but are different (colour, shape, texture), and a photographic typology is an order of pictures or related structures, shot in a steady, repetitive manner.This arrangement of pictures I have made demonstrates the diverse and extensive variety of typologies I am surrounded by.I like this study because I like to be organized and this relates to my obsession with having things in order.
Bernd and Hilla Becher - Typologies of industrial architecture
The husband and wife team of Bernd and Hilla Becher began photographing together in 1959. Bernd (1931–2007) and Hilla (b. 1934) Becher documented architectural forms referred to as “anonymous sculpture” for over thirty years. Their extensive series of water towers, blast furnaces, coal mine tipples, industrial facades, and other vernacular industrial architecture comprise an in-depth study of the intricate relationship between form and function. Many books on their work are in publication, each titled after the industrial structure that they document. |
Boris Mikhailov - German Portraits
Nearly a century after August Sander's portraits of German society, the Ukrainian photographer Boris Mikhailov created a series of pictures of the amateur actors in a German theatre company in the town of Braunschweig. Shot in profile against a black background, the photographer makes reference not only to Sander's typological study but also to Theodor Piderit's Principles of Mimic and Physiognomy, published in Braunschweig in 1858 and also to Hitler's interest in eugenics; Hitler became a German citizen in Braunschweig in 1932. The profile portrait also encourages the viewer to make formal comparisons between the sitters. Mikhailov's portraits and those of August Sander were exhibited together in 2012. |
Ed Ruscha - Every Building on the Sunset Strip (and other photo books)
Ed Ruscha is an American artist who combines an interest in photography and painting. His matter-of-fact images are often presented in book form. He describes the "dead-ahead", "emotionless" approach to depicting the subject, whether it be a gas station, swimming pool or parking lot. The quantity of images he produces is an important consideration. America is a place where scale and number are features of the culture. Photographing from vehicles - cars and a helicopter - are also important in a place like California where very people walk anywhere. Our view of the surrounding landscape in places like Los Angeles is partly dictated by the mode of transport we choose. 'Every building on the Sunset Strip' captures this sense of an unfolding, largely homogenous, urban landscape, passing by through a car window. |
Michael Wolf - Paris Tree Shadows (and other urban phenomena)
Michael Wolf's early career as a photo journalist is perhaps evident in his various studies of urban life. He documents repetitive features of the urban landscape, clearly influenced by the deadpan approach of the Dusseldorf School and the New Topographics photographers. However, Wolf's approach appears more concerned with the symbolic role played by mundane items such as his 'bastard chairs' which suggest the density of the urban environment of Hong Kong and the human ingenuity of its inhabitants. Wolf often uses a strict typological approach, as in his series '100 x 100', repeating the same vantage point. However, Wolf is always interested in the individuality of his human subjects and the tremendous visual variety of the interiors in which they live. He often displays his images in groups or in series to draw attention to repetitive phenomena. There is humour and poetry in these groupings. A good example of this is the beautiful and subtle "Paris Tree Shadows' series. |
Taryn Simon
Taryn Simon is a conceptual artist who works in a variety of mediums including photography, text and graphic design. In this work she researches blood lines across the world, representing the results of her extensive research in rigorously designed display panels. In this film she explains, along with the curator of an installation at The Guggenheim Museum, the characteristic qualities of her practice. |