Photographic exhibition

Press, 1 February 1983, Page 17

Photographic exhibition

Paul den Hollander: an exhibition of photographs in The Photographer's Gallery in Peterborough Street, until February 18. Peter Black: Fifty photographs, at the Robert .McDougall Art Gallery. until February 24. Reviewed by John Hurrell. Of these two exhibitions of black and white photographs. Paul den Hollander's show ot 30 works, taken throughout Britain and Europe, is the more interesting. Although this is partly due to those visual qualities that are unusual to antipodean eyes anyway, and that can be discovered in the vegetation, people and buildings of. for example. Versailles or Barcelona. much of the distinctiveness of these works lies in the forthrightness of their composition and the careful positioning of every element within each photograph. This emphasis on placement and the consideration of every shape make den Hollander's photographs look comparatively simple, for every work is taken outdoors in daylight, with many of the forms presented in front of a wispy sky. What is intriguing is his use of people as posed in-

gredients in this rigorously i controlled formal organisai tion. Those who are close 1 have their backs to the : camera, and those facing it ? are either distant or wearing - dark glasses. Any possibility of emotional directness is kept at a discreet f distance. Sometimes these contrived 1 arrangements look awkward t and too calculated, especially ’ as many works have a stilli ness which freezes motion. ? Appearing rather icy or pris- - tine, these photographs tend > to remove any trace of ? warmth or passion. In both exhibitions, every - print is superbly produced. - with a rich range of tones. - and clarity in the fine detail. ; In den Hollander's photo- - graphs, this precision accen--1 tuates the edge of each shape t and how it relates to those others around it. The urban imagery in i Peter Blacks' photographs t was taken from around the ; North Island, and depicts a - much wider range of emo- ; tions using more varied com- ; positional formats. His work t is not nearly as self-con-scious as den Hollander's. It ; is' relatively loosely com- - posed, being more spontane-

ous and not so stagy, but frequently his restrained sense of drama makes his photographs look too ordinarv, and thev fall flat. Like Glenn Jowitts photographs taken at horse racing meetings a few years ago. these images lean very much towards photo-journalism, and have a decidedly anecdotal flavour. They are rich in tenderness and humour, but are not exciting enough to be distinguishable from the work of many other similar photographers throughout the world. His most arresting images do not involve people at all. but live or toy animals. A large plaster kangaroo in a motel entrance at night and a dog with glowing eyes looking through the back window of a Mercedes Benz, are unexpected and disturbing images. However, out of 50 works/ such powerful photographs ! are too few to give the exhibition any qualities wildly different from what might be found in the pages of newspapers or magazines. This exhibition is well worth one visit. The other one requires at least two.