Dimensions: support: 404 x 304 mm
Copyright: © The estate of Keith Arnatt | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Curator: Before us is Keith Arnatt’s black and white photograph, entitled "Gardeners," held in the Tate Collections. Editor: My first impression is the weight of normalcy. It is a portrait, but almost aggressively ordinary. The man and the garden, both so…earthy. Curator: Absolutely. Arnatt was deeply interested in the structures of the art world. He often used photography to question the definition of art and the role of the artist in society. Editor: He’s presented as an archetype. The pipe, the cap, the stance—a symbol of grounded labor and a certain pastoral ideal that permeates British culture. Curator: Perhaps, but Arnatt’s work also challenges those ideals. By focusing on the everyday, he invites us to reconsider what we value and what we overlook. Editor: The visual language is so interesting here. The gardener surrounded by his labors, almost subsumed by them, speaks volumes about the relationship between humans and nature. Curator: It is a subtle yet powerful piece that encourages us to examine our own preconceptions about art and representation. Editor: Indeed, a reminder to find the extraordinary in the seemingly ordinary.
Comments
Join the conversation
Join millions of artists and users on Artera today and experience the ultimate creative platform.
Gardeners 1978–9 is a large series of black and white photographs that depicts individuals standing outdoors in the gardens they tend, which vary in character from sprawling fields in the countryside to small urban front gardens. Although the gardeners’ poses, expressions and clothing differ, they are all shown full-length standing in the mid-ground of the scene and looking towards the camera. The selection of forty prints from this series in the Tate collection (Tate T13087–T13126) was made and exhibited in 1979 for Keith Arnatt’s solo exhibition at the Anthony d’Offay Gallery, London. A different selection of prints was exhibited in his 1989 touring solo exhibition Rubbish and Recollections (Cambridge Darkroom; Oriel Mostyn, Llandudno; The Photographers’ Gallery, London; Ffotogallery, Cardiff). Arnatt took the photographs that make up this series during 1978 and 1979. To do so, he visited the sitters at their homes, photographing them in their own gardens. The series title, Gardeners, focuses the viewer’s attention on the gardeners rather than the gardens themselves, although the way in which Arnatt presents the individuals surrounded by the grass, foliage and sometimes concrete of their settings, with little else in view, suggests the intimate connection between the gardeners and their land. The repetitive nature of the composition and poses across each of the forty photographs also has the effect of drawing together a diverse group of people who have been photographed as a result of a shared hobby.
CollectMore like this
