anthropomĂŠtrie [anthr op o- + -m ĂŠ tr ie ]
jack dombrowski & noelle thorstenson
anthropomĂŠtrie [anth ropo- + -mĂŠ tri e ]
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I s hou ld go now qu ie tly To lie down and sle e p
anthropomĂŠtrie
W h ere all my layers c a n be c o m e r e e d s
[ an t h r o po - + - m ĂŠ t r i e ]
For my bones have fo un d a place
A l l my limbs can be c o m e tr e e s A l l my children can be c o m e m e W h at a mess I leav e To follow To follow To follow.. . images & text by jack t. dombrowski preface & design by noelle thorstenson
- smother, daughter 2
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preface
“It’s one thing to make a picture of what a person looks like, it’s another thing to make a portrait of who they are.” Paul Caponigro I met Jack Dombrowski in the fall of 2013 in an introduction to design class. As the years went on, I watched as he progressed into a mature and remarkable designer, creating inspiring and authentic works of art with stunning originality and impeccable craft. Jack embodies an artist in all senses of the word. He is an avid designer, skilled photographer, and devoted music fan. He has the ability to encapsulate lyrics and tones through aesthetically visual means, and tell stories through the images he produces. The idea for this book came to fruition when I approached Jack with the proposition of collaborating artistically over beers at a local bar. I had seen his previous project, “Anthropométrie” and envisioned creating a book featuring these poignant and captivating photographs. We began by setting up a humble, make-shift studio in the living room of my apartment, and utilized acquaintances and volunteers as our models. Jack would put his headphones on, choose a song, and direct the individual based on the movement of the music.
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The utilization of music in this project serves as an important element of emotive expression and communication between the artist and the subject, and provides the inspiration behind many of the captured poses. The lack of color strips the photographs of distractions, and draws the focus to the unique forms and shapes displayed in the image. It emphasizes emotion and amplifies the use of negative space to create a strong composition. In Anthropométrie II, Jack illustrates an abstraction of the physicality of relationships and identity by breaking down the boundaries of the human form. He captures the essence of the “soul” through utilization of the body, and demonstrates the existential action of movement through space. The coalescing figures exemplify the merging of two entities in relationship with one another, and the unity that accompanies connection.
“Shadows settle on the
The images featured in this book manage to capture the breadth of intimate and individual emotions. Jack’s interpretation of a portrait presents the subject in a raw, thought-provoking way, bringing a new meaning to the word. Collaborating with Jack has inspired a greater appreciation for photography, and provided an authentic, artistic experience which has stimulated personal and creative growth.
‘Cause most of us are
place, that you left Our minds are troubled by the emptiness Destroy the middle, it’s a waste of time From the perfect start to the finish line
And if you’re still breathing, you’re the lucky ones
heaving through corrupted lungs Setting fire to our insides for fun”
j ac k t . d o m b r o ws k i
we are the wild youth
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anthropométrie: an homage to klein and an exploration of human emotion.
Yves Klein’s body of work has long been a source of inspiration for me. This project, Anthropométrie II, takes its title from a small series Klein painted during his tragically short career. Named for the study of measurements and proportions of the human body, the first series of Anthropométrie paintings were produced during a special event at the Galerie International d’Art Contemporain in Paris on March 9th, 1960. It was Yves Klein’s first exhibition with the gallery. Donning a fine black suit and white gloves, his visage embodied what would become Pollock’s antithesis. Seeking complete dissolution between himself and his artwork, Klein influenced but never touched the pieces. He conducted a ten piece orchestra through a composition consisting of a single note, followed by a deafening silence of equal duration. Throughout the The Monotone Symphony Klein led a procession of nude female models through the room, instructing them to coat their bodies in blue paint, and press, drag, and repose their forms onto large canvases. Inspired by the burnt corporal shadows left on the earth by the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Klein’s Anthropometric paintings offer a vivid commentary on the various levels of separation between the metaphysical, physical, and infinite elements of the human experience. A half century later, I was reaching the conclusion of an obligatory stroll through the Centre Georges Pompidou when I was drawn into a quiet corner of the museum; a
reprieve from the schools of tourists and students being carried through the long hallway currents of artistic expression. It was a though a gravitational wave had set me adrift from my passive orbit around the paintings and sculptures and anchored me to a new cosmic mooring. I found myself descending onto a poorly cushioned contemporary bench. In front of me hung a canvas detached from the gallery wall. It was another of Klein painting, Blue Monochrome. A single cool pigment layered onto a frameless canvas. It is not a sea of blue. The great depths of our oceans are incapable of offering an adequate parallel to the infinite void that Klein sough to represent as an “open window to freedom, as the possibility of being immersed in the immeasurable existence of color.” It was a glimpse of infinite space cloaked in a deep blue reminiscent of Voyager’s final transmission.
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I sat motionless on the for the better part of an hour, staring through Klein’s legacy into The Void. Training my focus on the paint, I was immersed in the blue. My nearly meditative state manifested physical sensation. A exterior force draped over me as if gravity suddenly began to weigh towards my center. I sat suspended, anchored to some lonely celestial point. I imagined myself the size of our lonely blue dot, gravity containing my form rather than pinning me to Earth. Orbiting the sun, I am forever plummeting towards a perceivably eternal flame. We look to the heavens for salvation, but the stars themselves are are built from the
same raw materials as we are. How can something just as ephemeral as ourselves offer us something infinite? In the past these ideas led me to dark places. Cynicism and Nihilism would paralyze me and the thoughts would stop there. But there staring at the blue monochrome, I was unphased. My journey down this philosophical rabbit hole continued and I landed on an interesting sentiment; our individual realities are driven by our emotional perceptions. Everything we are and everything we make is stitched in time. Our reality only exists as long as we are a part of it; therefore we must seek pleasure in all emotional experiences in order to construct a better reality for ourselves. This personal philosophy has led me to the creation of this series. Anthropométrie II is both an homage to the man who drove me to this realization, and a celebration of human emotion. My exploration into this aesthetic has offered me the opportunity to reflect upon the tides of emotions that I have experienced throughout life. Analyzing the ebb and flow, I began to see bridges between joy and sorrow, anger and serenity. I sought, and am still searching, for a visual language that can communicate these metaphysical senses and in a way, allow my audience to witness myself and others with unencumbered empathy. Anthropométrie II is my attempt to bring the lens into focus and impose structure upon what has been so often depicted by a frenzied double exposures.
dedicated to: Owen, Dylan, Jake, Emma, and Emily
text: Noelle Thorstenson and Jack T. Dombrowski designed: Noelle Thorstenson images: Jack T. Dombrowski fonts: Scala sans song and quotes: Blind Pilot, Emarosa, The Devil Wears Prada, The Dear Hunter, Brokhampton, Tove Lo, Daughter, Sigur Rรณs, Sean Leon, Eula Bliss, The Glitch Mob printed and bound: Blurb created: March 2018 10
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Geometric Abstraction I 12
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Anthropometrie II, J.T.D. Winter, 2018
Shut Up Dylan
Anthropometrie II, J.T.D. Winter, 2018
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Thoughts on The Gates of Hell I Anthropometrie II, J.T.D. Winter, 2018
Thoughts on The Gates of Hell II
Thoughts on The Gates of Hell III
Anthropometrie II, J.T.D. Winter, 2018
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Porcelain
Omen
Anthropometrie II, J.T.D. Winter, 2018
Anthropometrie II, J.T.D. Winter, 2018
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Witches I
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Half
Thoughts on The Gates of Hell IV
Anthropometrie II, J.T.D. Winter, 2018
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“ I w a s s w imming My eyes were dark ‘ Ti l you woke me A n d t ol d me that opening I s j us t the start I t wa s ...”
-3 rounds and a sound
Still III
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Self- Portrait II
Self- Portrait I
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Anthropometrie II, J.T.D. Winter, 2018
Smoke and Retribution
Lose It
Anthropometrie I, J.T.D. Winter, 2018
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Anthropometrie I, J.T.D. Winter, 2018
Geometric Abstraction II 32
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Anthropometrie I, J.T.D. Winter, 2018
Omen II
I Wanna Know
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Anthropometrie II, J.T.D. Winter, 2018
“ When I was a child, I n ev er paid no attention But now that I’m grown, I’ve been tossing stones, I’m wa l king alone A n d I don’t even know wh a t I’ m o ut h ere s e a rc h in g fo r If t here ever is a reason to be p a ra n o id ”
-paranoid
Still II
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All I Wanted
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Self- Portrait III
Anthropometrie II, J.T.D. Winter, 2018
Hypnotik
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“ I t h i n k I ’m m ade of stone I t h i n k we ar e al l B u i l t o u t of m e m or y B u i l t o u t of se am s St r u c t u re s of w hisp e r s P as s t h r oug h our ve ins L ai d o u t on scr e e ns”
made of stone, daughter
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Like Water
Anthropometrie I, J.T.D. Winter, 2018
When Everything Was New Anthropometrie I, J.T.D. Winter, 2018
Never Be Like You Anthropometrie I, J.T.D. Winter, 2018
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Like Water
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“ Wai t I s m y b o d y r e al l y par t o f t h e e ar th? An d i s t h e r e b l o o d r u n n i n g t h r oug h m y ve ins? I ’ l l k n o w wh e n I t u r n t o d u s t B u t I f e ar t h e an s we r i s n ’ t e n o ug h So , wi l l I n e v e r k n o w h e av e n or he l l ? Or i s e t e r n i t y s o m e t h i n g wo r s e ? I k e e p m y e y e s f r o m l o o k i n g t oo far up A f e ar t h at t h e r e i s a h e av e n a bove A f e ar t h at t h e r e i s a he ave n above A f e ar t h at t h e r e i s a h e ave n above I h o pe t h e r e ’ s n o t a he ave n above . . . ”
-the dear hunter
A Fear
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Thoughts on The Gates of Hell V 50
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Anthropometrie II, J.T.D. Winter, 2018
Helix
Numb and Getting Colder Anthropometrie I, J.T.D. Winter, 2018
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Anthropometrie I, J.T.D. Winter, 2018
“I think I know you, I know you, yo u c a n bre a k. . . �
Porcelain ||
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Silenced
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Omen III
Glass I
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Numbers
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“ Two f eet s tanding on a prin c ip le Two ha n ds longing for each o th e rs warm th Co l d s mo k e s eep ing ou t of cold e r th ro ats D arkn es s falling, leaves no w h ere to g o I t ’ s spiraling down B i ti n g w ords like a wolf ho w lin g H a te i s s pitting ou t each o th e r s m o uth s B u t we’re still sleeping like w e ’ r e lo v ers . . . ”
Still II
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Tomorrow
Home
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You Know
Anthropometrie I, J.D. Winter, 2018
Self- Portrait IV
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Geometric Abstraction III 64
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Anthropometrie II, J.D. Winter, 2018
Free
Thoughts on The Gates of Hell VI
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“ I ’m w a s ted, losing time I’m a f oo lish, fragile spine I w a n t a l l that is not mine I w a n t hi m bu t we’re not rig h t. . . ”
-smother
Still VI
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Stay
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Geometric Abstraction IV Anthropometrie II, J.D. Winter, 2018
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Still IV
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“ Yo u c o u l d s t i l l b e , W h at y o u wan t t o , W h at y o u s ai d y o u we re , When I met you”
Self-Portrait VI
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“ T he imagination is the veh i c l e o f s e n s i b i l i t y. Tr ansported by the imagina t i o n , w e attain life, life itself, w h i c h i s a bsolu te art.� Yv e s K l e i n
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