Capon photographs

Press, 28 February 1987, Page 41

Capon photographs

“A photographic Portfolio of 40 New Zealanders,” photographs by Kevin Capon, at the C.S.A. Gallery, until March 8. Reviewed by Pat Unger. The C.S.A. Gallery is showing 40 portraits by Kevin Capon of prominent New Zealanders. They have been selected by Carol de Teira. Sven Baker is the graphic designer.

Enlarged to the point of being repellent, these photographs are the essence of intimacy and impact.

The features are so telephoto-close that viewers can be thankful they are experiencing this interface with persons from the arts and other noble professions (the church, law, library and Medicine). Lesser or coarser people, in this style of unrelenting realism, would be hard to relate to.

Capon’s camera is anti-

idealistic. By highlighting extremes of anatomical detail, he makes personal differentia into caricature and robs the portait of its traditional status.

The wrap of a wide aperture, an a narrow zone of focus results in eyes that bulge, noses that grow, skins that imitate tectonic plates and pores that become open craters. “Dr Erich Geiringer. Doctor” looks like Rasputin; “Darcy Nicholas. Painter” oozes reasonableness; “Doris Lusk. Painter” mesmerises with her eyeglasses and "Ellie Smith. Actress” is the quintessence of artfulness.

Each of these well known New Zealanders has a job description attached and these definitive labels provide further interest for the viewer. “Directorial” qualities, “newsreaderness,” “arts patronliness” and “authorial” attributes become abstracts to seek, find and assess.

“Brian Priestley” disappoints. His wit is not evident. “Don Driver’s” eye searches for space with a hint of despair and “Bob Lowe” seems more average than vicarish. And what more can be said about “Sir Miles Warren’s” eyebrows? After the “shock of the gross” has worn off, the compositional and tonal aspects of various works become evident. “Bronwyn Judge. Dancer,” “Elizabeth Smither. Poet/Writer” “Cilla McQueen. Poet” and “Ralph Hotere. Printer/Sculptor” along with others are impressive orchestrations of the black-and-white skill.

Capon’s use of exaggeration is audacious and enjoyable, and the cooperation of his subjects in having their anatomical details enlarged in this unflattering way shows true loyalty to the cause of photography.