How has Gjon Mili, Laurent Segretier and Anja Niemi presented surrealist imagery in their artwork? The artist’s chosen all present surrealist imagery in different and unique ways which leave all with varied and alternative outcomes. Some use tone and colour, while others use layer-ing and slow shutter speeds to create a surrealist image. They each have presented their work in a photographic way, as the story told is much more profound. Gjon Mili is a 20th century photographer, famous for using a strobing technique, to create trance like photographs. The most important part of the image is the main subject, as they define the piece. The pieces are usually in black and white, and this creates a more omi-nous feeling to the photo. His work doesn’t so much reference pop culture, more so it is a part of it. The photos taken by Gjon Mili, were almost exclusively used by Life magazine. Laurent Segretier is a Modern Artist, who uses technology to digitally distort his artwork. The artwork has a dark and eerie feel to each and every piece, and the distorted vision of the subjects photographed, produce the surrealist intent. A key technique used in his work is to smash or damage the screen with an image on it and then re-photograph that image, this then makes each and every piece unique, as the damage done to the screen is sporadic and never the same. Segretier is inspired by his everyday life in Hong Kong and his travels across the globe. Depending on the artwork different cultural inspirations can be seen The photograph above is a technical masterpiece for its time. The scene is of a dancer mov-ing around the photograph gracefully. The dark tones and vibrant white tones, create a sur-realist contrast that is visually appealing to the viewer. The photograph has been slightly edited, however its similar to its natural form as the techniques available beck when this photograph was taken is very limited. Anja Niemi is a contemporary artist/photographer, who uses visual editing and surrealist sets, to create a surrealist image/scene. By using the same model, multiple times in a sce-ne, creates an almost tense and slightly morose aura to the image. Niemi references dif-ferent era’s in pop culture such as the 1950-60’s and the Victorian era. Gjon Mili was an influential artist in the 20th century, notable for using revolutionary i stro-boscopic interments to capture a sequence of motion in his artwork. In one image, Mili was able to have a model move around a set and the resulting movement be captured graceful-ly, the end result would leave the image with a model in different position, some more transparent then others and this creates the dreamlike/surrealist effect. Laurent Segretier is a photographer that both digitally and physically alters his photos to create a dystopian, nightmarish image, with surrealist imagery. Anja Niemi uses Awkward position of her models and the styling of her set to create and present a surrealist image. Many of her pieces show an aura of whimsy and creativity. Gjon Mili has a more traditional approach to editing and his artwork is often in a mono-chromatic style, that has the main subject be the sole focus of the image, reminiscent of the opening scenes of the wizard of oz. Whereas Anja Niemi who composes her images in a similar style to Mili, uses calming and various shades of muted and pastel colours, her scene is similar in style to that of Alice in wonderland. Laurent Segretier has an alternative way to edit and his work has a more modern feel to his pieces yet the subject has a more vintage
feel such as the piece below. The subject looks like a statue similar to the ones made by Michelangelo, yet the graphic and textural editing has given the image a more modern feel.
He pioneered using a technique called ‘stroboscopic photography’ which used a flash and prolonged exposure to create movement in the image. Shadows and movement in a still image is hard to capture and gives the work a trance like feel. It creates surrealist imagery of a person moving at rapid speed or multiple versions of one self. Mili’s work is incredibly well planned and he is able to tell a narrative in one image. His work, when using this method/style, is usually monochromatic. This make’s the image feels dated and old be-cause of the reference to old Hollywood in the image. ‘My generation came at a time when photography was advancing by leaps and bounds, cre-ating the impulse to experiment and seek new approaches.’ Famous for using a strobing technique, to create trance like photographs. The most important part of the image is the main subject, as they define the piece. I think the mood if the image is quite happy and joy-ous, because the movement of the subject is quite fluid and exaggerated. The image is in black and white; however, the lighting is solely focused on the performer, drawing the viewers’ attention towards the centre of the image. The photo is well balanced and propor-tioned, which is ironic since the image is of multiple people. The photograph below is a technical masterpiece for its time the mid 1950’s. The scene is of a dancer moving around the photograph gracefully. The dark tones and vibrant white tones, create a surrealist contrast that is visually appealing to the viewer. The photograph has been slightly edited, however its similar to its natural form as the techniques available beck when this photograph was taken is very limited.
The person in the photograph is a fit young woman, with dark hair and a long flowing dress, that appears to just graze past the knee. The image reminds me of one of Leonardo Da Vin-ci’s masterpieces ‘ L’uomo vitruviano’.
The layering in the photograph is similar to that artwork, and creates a dream like effect.
His work is both Visually stunning as it is technically advanced for the time it was made. His obsession to capture movement, without distorting or blurring the image has enabled him to diverge from common themes, when presenting movement and has created a style of photograph that gives both clarity and depth to a scene/photograph.
The images above are from a photographer, Laurent Segretier. He is a modern artist, who specialise in digitally distorted art. the artwork has a dark and eerie feel to each and every piece. The artwork is reminiscent of early nighties entertainment and is shockingly similar to Ma-donna’s ‘erotica’ album, I think that it is shocking because of the uncanny resemblance and theme that draws its similarities to Madonna’s album. The distorted effect on the picture create an aura of mystery around the artwork, and the metallic colours show a lack of emotion as the colours are similar to that of mechanical creations. the work is produced when he places photographs onto a computer and smashes the screen, then re-photographs them. some of the photographs have been edited on Pho-toshop, but the more impactful photographs are the one, that have been smashed. Their many ways to describe the artist work to someone who cannot
see it. The work is a subversive array of vibrant colour blended in with a distorted and somewhat dystopian background. Segretier is a French photographer, based in Hong Kong, so many of the subjects used are either Asian or European, however much of the subjects he has photographed are inani-mate objects, such as shoes and statues. His work is interesting as it creates an illusion of complication, yet his methods and references are simple. Laurent Segretier ‘[My themes work around] ideas of an unstable and fragmented reality... a beautiful but disturbing virtu-ally, through the struggles and the euphoria. The ideas come from my [personal] life and how I live in the world’-Dazed. The way the artist describes his work, shows the authenticity of his work and creations. All of Laurent’s work has a vintage feel, but through the perspec-tive of the modern eye, which makes his work both poignant and relevant. The image above, is of two women or comparatively a woman and a mirror. Their many words to describe this photograph transcendent, elusive, mysterious and intriguing. Not much is known about the model in the image, however what one could infer is that she’s a young woman, playing around with a reflective surface. The image has quite a mysteri-ous/erotic feeling as the pose and colour pallet of the image is similar to that of Madonna’s 1991 album ‘Erotica’. The picture is in a contained setting as the image is very close up and personal. The work was created for Olfactive studio in 2017 for a Paris collection. The graphic editing style and vibrant colour edit, create a vibrant picture, slightly altered to how we view real life. The subject matter and shapes are recognisable, yet the presenta-tion is different and alternative. The final outcome interests me most about the work, be-cause it shows an artist’s perspective on life. Laurent Segretier and Gjon Mili are two photographers who from a glance are completely different, yet through further investigation have many similarities. They use different colour pallets, Laurent using a more vibrant array of colour compared to Mili’s more subdued monochromatic pallet. However, they both use them to communicate different emotions or topics. Mili comes from a traditional photography background, and therefore his techniques tend to be more refined and controlled, his work loses the spontaneity that Segretier has in his work. Segretier’s work is more exciting and fresh because of this. Both of them present movement in their work, they use it to present both a narrative and emotion. Segretier uses a more static and undefined technique of presenting movement, similar to that presented in vapourware art. This fit the theme of his work as it perfectly summarises his artwork. Mili is known for how he presents movement and this can be seen in his refined, highly developed technique. When Segretier uses movement, it feels forced and less emotion, compared to Mili, who’s intention from the start is to present movement gracefully
Anja Niemi is a modern photographer, known for being a solitary worker and does the pho-tography and staging for all of her photograph’s. Her photographs are notorious for being beautifully composed and her attention to positioning and movement it incremental to the success of her work
In the piece above you can see how vital her efforts in positioning affected the image. On the left the model is almost disfigured but they styling has made the image look elegant. Her body is at an awkward angle and her limbs look painful in the angled position. In my own work I want to blend aspects of all artist’s in a cohesive vision for my own work. I want to use Niemi’s placement of modes and Mili’s use of moment to style the shoot and then edit in a similar, distorted way such as Segretier’s. Her use of composition and plan-ning has highly influenced my work and has greatly helped me in arranging how I want to present a photoshoot. I think that visually Niemi’s work can be compared to that of Gjon Mili, however the tech-niques used are extremely different and both are used for different intentions. Niemi has a determination to create a fully realised scene whereas I feel that Gjon Mili’s photographs aren’t as fully resolved. In an interview with bookmoda.com Niemi said her work is “They are stories translated into pictures, with a touch of the dark and a touch of humour.” By reading this it was important for me to translate an essence of this into my work. I like her comedic attitude to life and how even in the dark there is always humour.
In my narrative I have tried to combine elements from each artist to portray an eerie and intriguing story. My work has an intended sinister feel, something I think that can come across from all the artist I looked at. Each artist individually has given me artistic inspiration which I have taken and used into my own work, hopefully in an effective way, showing sur-realist imagery. Gjon mili was the first artist I looked at and took inspiration from. His work has a vintage aesthetic and it was inspiring to see he’s devotion to the craft of photography. From his work I mostly looked at trying to evoke the effect of movement in my work, something he does effortlessly. In my final outcome I can see traces of his inspiration which has filtrated down into my work, however I don’t think thane could draw an initial thread or conclusion of his work to mine.
I also looked at Laurent Segretier. A modern photographer how uses both physical and digi-tal mediums to execute his work. His work is visually imposing and has a stark initial im-pression. His work is most similar to mines as I feel it has a similar aesthetic and genre. Looking at Anja Niemi’s work gave me true inspiration on how to compose a photo and tell a story in one scene. Her work has the ability to translate a 1000 different stories in one image and this is something I tried to translate into my own work. I don’t think I work visu-ally looks the same but the emotional intent is similar. To answer the question “How has Gjon Mili, Laurent Segretier and Anja Niemi presented surrealist imagery in their artwork?” Is simple. By using emotional connection and artistic intent to show a narrative the artist is able to translate the Storie into one image, whether by using physical or digital techniques to create an immensely personal and detailed scene.
Bibliography bookmoda.com http://www.thelittleblackgallery.com/artists/anja-niemi/ http://www.anjaniemiphotography.com/?p=1266 http://www.stevenkasher.com/artists/anja-niemi https://www.artdependence.com/articles/i-always-work-alone-an-interview-with-anja-niemi/ https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/gjon-mili?all/all/all/all/0 https://www.artsy.net/article/editorial-how-gjon-mili-pioneered-stop-motion-photography http://resourcemagonline.com/2013/04/light-drawings-by-pablo-picasso-and-gjon-mili/24125/ http://www.theartpostblog.com/en/the-vitruvian-man-by-leonardo-da-vinci/ http://time.com/3730221/its-about-time-classic-stroboscopic-photos/ https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/dec/16/flash-forward-gjon-milis-amazing-stroboscopic-photographs-in-pictures http://www.segretier.com/ https://www.widewalls.ch/artist/laurent-segretier/ http://www.thecatstreetgallery.com/artist/LaurentSegretier/biography/ http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/14891/1/laurent-segretier-memento https://artbridge.fr/laurent-segretier