Brian High photos

Press, 19 March 1986, Page 21

Brian High photos

Photographs of South Canterbury Landscapes and People: an exhibition by Brian High at the Canterbury Society of Arts, until March 21. Re-‘ viewed by John Hurrell. Tweny-eight black-and-white photographic prints by Brian High are showing in the upstairs gallery of the Canterbury Society of Arts. They all feature dramatic landscapes, in the foreground of which are posed single figures or pairs. These unclothed bodies are squeezed into tubes of tightly pulled cheesecloth and the gauze is held at two side points just off camera. The netting’s whiteness contrasts vividly with the dark tones of the sky and land.

Without the inclusion of the semi-clad figures, High's images would be very competent landscapes that have an impressive tonal range and clarity of definition. How-

ever, the presence of the figures within the backdrop of mountains or stony beaches looks contrived because of the fabric they are wearing.

Naked figures posed in such a way that their bodies repeated landscape forms would look integrated, but these imaages are self-conscious attempts to look arty and, because the material obscures and reveals simultaneously, slightly naughty as well.

There is some differentiation between the poses of the male and female models. Some postures are virile and assertive, and others are dainty and nymph-like. The sexual stereotyping does not appear to be “campy” or ironic.

Such figures might have looked less daft if they were fully clothed under the cheesecloth, for the lumpy shapes would have added a touch of surreal-

ist humour. As they are here, the human figures are presented inside material that is normally used for wrapping cheeses or meat or wiping floors, and posed in positions that attempt to look noble.

Muttoncloth here could have been used as a metaphor to make some sociological comment on the way our patriarchal society regards the female form, but there is no hint in these photographs of that. The absurdity of these images makes them good for a giggle. They do not transcend gimmickry.