I attended the Captured Distortion opening, a photography show by UO non-art student Benjamin Ficklin, the last cold Friday evening here in Eugene. Although it was chilly outside, inside of The Wave Gallery it was crowded and steamy with heavily breathing twenty-somethings. The Wave is a really nice space, though, what some might call "intimate," although it was hard to get a real handle on the photographs since it was in fact so crowded (but what else to expect at an art opening).
Choosing cheap film over digital, Ficklin's work registered as dream-like, filmy/filmic, and surreal. The photographs had the pleasing appearance of being "vintage" but in the modern sense where it was clear the grain and distortion was overtly intentional. I was reminded of my favorite mid-century British postcard photographer John Hinde, especially in the shots of the cathedral and daffodils. Although Ficklin's were visually engaging photographs, I find actual old photographs, such as Hinde's, to be significantly more interesting.
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| A John Hinde postcard circa 1960's (see below image for comparison) |
What I like about Ficklin's work is its spontaneous nature, what Ficklin himself calls "impromptu" in an article in the Register Guard. I think there is something to be said about the accident in photography, and Ficklin's photos do have a charming happy-accident appeal.
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| Ficklin and his work. I felt weird about posting a stranger's face. This photo was not taken by me. |
Ficklin also states that his photographs look "more like a painting than a photograph," and that he "wants to use the film as a canvas...to paint with light without anything digital getting in the way." I thought this statement was most interesting in the context of recent declarations of "Painting is dead," meaning its relevance is dying. I, at least, thought that this kind of movement towards distortion and painterly effects in photography, embodied by Ficklin's statement, only underscores the attraction of painting, and the permanence of its aesthetics. But this is a painter talking!
The show runs until February 17th at the Wave Gallery on Blair.
Here is a link to the Register Guard article:
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