Sunday 6 December 2009

Sandy Skoglund...


Sandy Skoglund is an American photographer, sculptor, and installation artist born in Massachusettes, United States in 1946. Her work consists of surreal photography by using sets that have an overwhelming amount of one object and either bright, contrasting colours or a monochromatic colour scheme.



One of her most-known photographs, called Radioactive Cats, features green-painted clay cats running amok in a grey kitchen. An older man sits in a chair with his back facing the camera while his elderly wife looks into a refrigerator that is the same colour as the walls. I like the way the colours are contrasted in this image, it makes the cats stand out more. I also like the random idea, meaning you don't have to think hard about the image or keeping searching around it, because there is no specific point to it. Although, i don't enjoy it as much as Crewdson's work because it has no effect on me.


Another image, Fox Games has a similar feel to Radioactive Cats and is also widely rocognised. It features red-painted clay foxes running amok in a grey restaurant. A couple sit at a table in the restaurant whilst a waitor seems to be taking their dishes. I like the way the bright red contrats the grey in this image, again it makes the foxes stand out. I also like the way the people seem to be disconcerned and oblivious to what is going on around them. This image seems to be quite playful, the foxes seem to be having fun and playing 'games'. This is possibly why it's called Fox games.


A third often recognised piece by her features numerous fish hovering above people in bed late at night and is called Revenge of the Goldfish. I love this image because the blue could be representing water and the goldfish are orange, a common colour we would associate with them. I like the way, in all these images, the people seem disconcerned with the happenings surrounding them. I also find this image has a slight sense of eerieness, perhaps it's the title of the image or even the boy, who seems to be in a trance. The fish seem to be reacting to the environment as well, which gives them an eerie sense of reality.

Another one of her images is Squirrels at the Drive-In, which features a vast amount of squirrels rampaging a drive-in where only a couple of cars are parked. This one is slightly different to the others because we don't see the people peoperly and the whole image is monochromatic, so nothing stands out straight away. The squirrels are the main cause of concern in this image as they are seen being mischievious. The way the image has ben done makes them seem realistic too, in oppose to her other ones which are obviously fake. Although, this one isn't as intriguing as the others because it looks a bit plain.

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