Voom Portraits: Robert Wilson

Posted by Simply Jean under Exhibitions
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Ask anyone about photography and they’d think of digital photos of enormous megapixels. Modern day technology has indeed made taking photographs tremendously easy. In fact, technology is so good nowadays that a consumer compact camera now comes with enough functions for the user to do away with traditional photo editing software.

Then came Robert Wilson – who, in his own words and methods, redefines what he thinks of photography. If you are expecting still portraits of people hanging on the walls, then you will be in for a big surprise.

Instead of having printed works on display, Robert Wilson brings to you a somewhat “still videography”, if I may call it, that has seemingly no beginning, middle nor end and runs end-to-end. The most popular of all – Brad Pitt, shows him in an almost perfectly still pose; where in the absence of showers of rain in the video, it almost seemed like a photograph.

While it may be usual to spot photography buffs standing for long durations in front of a work, doing so for Robert Wilson’s would be for another reason. You see, his subjects actually move after a short while with some unexpected action. I am tempted to let you know what Brad Pitt did, but I think it’d be a good surprise for you to see for yourself personally.

Another perspective of Robert Wilson’s work is that while external light usually illuminates a photograph, his works are illuminated from the inside out. Of course, his works are in High Definition (HD) on 42 inches and up HDTVs, which also means that the colours may vary on different TVs. However, his works on stillness speak in volume not just on his artistic views, but on how a different approach may be used to look at everyday objects.

Besides engaging famous people for his production, snow owls and a panther were also brought into the studio – from which, his advice to his crew is that they should never move even as the panther charge towards them. In fact, I find the production on the panther to be one of the more intriguing works as I tried to figure out the studio environment from the eyes of the panther. The work on the porcupine is also capturing as it seemed that a blue screen had been used to portray it to be in space, but in actual fact, it’s nothing more than just a cloth and a back drop.

While as many as 65 portraits are available, 19 of perhaps his best works are available today at the National Museum of Singapore. This is the first stop in Asia before Voom moves on to the South Americas and Western Europe. So, do drop by the National Museum of Singapore today to catch Brad Pitt in still action, if not for the rest of Robert Wilson’s fantastic works. This exhibition runs till the 4th January 2009.

Tags: National Museum of Singapore, Robert Wilson

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