BA piece on Jeff Wall

1. Photographers
Jeff Wall
Jeff wall has been described as a ‘painter of modern life’. His images have been described
as a ‘highly concentrated mosaic like style’. His work focuses on people. Their interaction,
social conflicts and cultural problems. Jeff explains that
‘I am more attracted to what happens to people, creatures and objects outside the
camera, how they look, how they change, what their fate is and where they finish
up, before, during and after the photo’.1
Almost all of his work is performed or staged. The props and set forming a crucial and
interesting backdrop. The shots are directed as if they were part of a movie scene. The
people that appear in his photographs are anonymous. They adopt the role of actors or
figures as in a painting. The images are observations made in every day life. Some of his
work contains direct and indirect reference to renowned works of
art. Picture for Women, 1979 can be related to, Edouard Monet’s,
Le Bar Aux Folies-Bergere, 1881. His image of ‘the thinker’ has a
direct reference to ‘Monument to the Vivtory over the Peasants’
Revolt’ by Albrecht Durer. Jeff explains that he does not believe
there is ‘old art’ as opposed to ‘new art’. He believes that
whatever he is experiencing in the now is new art. He defines it as
‘an opening in history, an opening in time, brought about just by experience’.2
One can see an artists influence on most of his work. Some are carefully staged with
elaborate sets. These shots tend to be very theatrical or pursue a dream or fantasy as in
‘The Flooded Grave’, 1998-200. In this shot an open grave has
been flooded. The grave has been recently dug. Remnants of the
gravedigger’s craft lay scattered around the grave. Two people
are just visible in the distance. Birds circle or rest on the ground.
The grave itself is filled with water. The water contains sea
urchins, starfish and other sea life. Jeff explains that
‘a viewer might imagine a walk on a rainy day; he or she stops before the flooded
hole an gazes into it, and for some reason imagines the ocean bottom. We see the
instant of that fantasy, and in another instant it will be gone’. 3
The Vampires’ Picnic is another carefully staged photograph. We can see what appear to
be ordinary people. Closer examination reveals them as vampires, feasting on the blood
and flesh of unfortunate victims. It gives the impression that the photographer has
stumbled on this scene.
1
Jeff Wall, Figures and Places _ Selected Works from 1978-2000, Prestel Books
2
Ibid
3
Ibid

2. Jeff Wall’s images contain unobtrusive, simple things you might
see anywhere. He has focussed his lens on the here-and-now. He
focuses on elements of society that have been marginalised.
Alienation, poverty, criminality, unemployment and
other themes that people think they know something
about. His images can be crudely simple and have a
snapshot quality. Jeff Wall’s work is presented as back-lit transparencies,
mounted in aluminium cases. What you see is not a plagiarised replica of an
old master.
The figures and their placement jump out at you. His
work challenges you to look and work out the social and
psychological struggles taking place within the image.
Briony Fer sums up his work by saying,
‘His self-reflexive mode of image making
presents pictures as if they have a memory, and
as if the past of representation is always (and
indeed only) present in the ‘now’.4
4
Photography In The Visual Arts, Art & Design, Vol 10, 9/10 Sept – Oct 1995