John Goto is a photographer who
uses his images to satirise and poke fun at society and the establishment,
whilst raising important socio-political issues (in particular the gulf between
the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’) that are current in today’s society. His works
often use photo-montage in order to explore these themes and, mainly because of
the relevance of this technique to my own work, he was recommended for further
study by my tutor.
‘Ukadia’ is essentially the book
of an exhibition organised by the Djangoly Art Gallery, which featured three of
Goto’s best known works, ‘Capital Arcade’, ‘High Summer’ and ‘Gilt City’, these
works being produced between 1997 and 2003. The works seem to represent well both
Goto’s style and his philosophy, based on other research and my study of the
galleries on his web site. I’ll look at each series in turn and give an
overview of his work and its relevance to my project afterwards.
‘Capital Arcade’ (1997-99) features ten satirical photo-tableaux,
relating to “the collapse of socialism” in ‘New Labour’ Britain. The tableaux
feature managerial and consumerist society, set in an imaginary ‘out of town’ new
shopping arcade. Each of the composite images relates to a specific work of art
by artists ranging from El Greco to Joshua Reynolds. Goto clearly has a deep
and sophisticated understanding of art history, which allows him to relate the
messages in the original art works to his own ironical messages about modern
day society. To be honest I found the messages hard to follow and had to rely
on the essay in the book by Robert Clark to appreciate their significance.
‘Unit 3, Capital Arcade’ (Image 1) gives a flavour of Goto’s style.
Image 1: John Goto, "Unit 3, Capital Arcade"
Based on El Greco’s ‘Christ
Driving the Traders from the Temple’, the temple porch is represented by
McDonalds’ foyer and the Christ figure by an oriental person, who is surrounded
by trendy people in brand name gear, representing the traders and apostles.
Notice also the man with the 1990s mobile phone!
Whilst Goto’s coded messages are
sophisticated and political and his images undoubtedly must have taken a lot of
time and effort to put together, he makes no attempt to hide the fact that they
are montages. I imagine that he must have drawn from a library of hundreds,
perhaps thousands of images of people photographed in the streets. The images
are impressive in that they were put together digitally at a time when image
manipulation using digital technology was in its infancy.
‘High Summer’ (2000-2001) takes Goto’s Britain away from shopping
malls and out into the idealised arcadian landscapes of Poussin and Lorrain, 17th
century French landscape painters who are much admired by the photographer. He
has combined the classical landscapes of Stowe, Rousham and Stourhead with
(often) fake Palladian temples and classical ruins and re-positioned these, in
montage with contemporary landscapes (beaches, valleys, hills, lakes and
streams) to produce visually ravishing, if entirely artificial landscapes.
These scenes are then deliberately spoilt, or at least changed, by the addition
of people engaged in various contemporary activities. The myth of the perfect
landscape becomes the reality of a landscape used and often abused by joggers,
cyclists, hunters, joyriders, the army and the air force. Indeed, Goto’s vision
is often doom-laden with visions of impending flooding (image 2 – an early
reference to global warming?)
In ‘High Summer’ Goto’s satire is
directed both at the perceived eccentricities of human behaviour and at our
dual capacity for creation and self-destruction. By setting his scenes in
beautifully composed, atmospheric imaginary landscapes his work becomes far
more aesthetically appealing and perhaps carries a stronger message than does ‘Capital
Arcade’.
‘Gilt City’ (2002-2003) sees Goto return to the urban landscape.
The 20 images in this series mainly depict urban ‘outsiders’, such as beggars,
flower sellers and touts, against a backdrop of corporate city buildings. In
many images reflections of suited ‘city types’ in the windows of the buildings
emphasise the differences between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ (a recurring
theme in Goto’s work). A typical example is ‘Beggar’ (below), in which a man
begs using a McDonalds drinking cup, holding it as if in prayer. The dome of St
Pauls, an icon of London’s financial centre, is conveniently reflected in glass
behind him. Is there a connection between McDonalds and begging or is the cup
simply used to connect the beggar with the capitalist society?
John Goto, "Beggar"
In contrast to the earlier works,
here Goto dressed and photographed friends and associates in the studio, then
digitally placed their images into his many images of the ‘square mile’. These
images are technically simpler and (presumably) more straightforward to produce
than his previous series, but their meaning is often harder to place – in many
cases, as noted in the essay by Mark Durden that accompanies the series, his
work carries mixed messages. In particular, his images of the ‘Bear Tamer’ and
‘Bullfighter’ (a reference to the ‘bulls’ and ‘bears’ of the Stock Market)
reverse their relationship with the ‘bull’ being represented by a cute calf and
the bear appearing as a reflection in the window behind the ‘Bear Tamer’,
apparently ready to pounce. The subtlety of some of the other images would have
been lost on me if there had not been a discussion and explanation in Durden’s
text. The bottom line of this work appears to be that “Capitalism has become a
pervasive, monolithic force, which assimilates any signs of subversion or
defiance”.
Whilst the images of this final
series have lost some aesthetic appeal when compared with ‘High Summer’ they do
seem more focussed and more contemporary. They are also more closely aligned to
the type of image that I am attempting to produce for my own project work.
Final Comments and Learning Points
In these three visually very
different series of works John Goto uses photo-montage in order to present a
satirical, socialist, at times almost apocalyptic view of the state of modern
society, with its inequalities and injustices. As digital imaging technology
has developed, the sophistication of his montages has increased to the point
where in the final series it is quite possible to believe that the images were
single snapshots. Whilst the ‘High Summer’ images have the greatest aesthetic
appeal their message is tempered by the fact that they are clearly montages.
The ‘Capital Arcade’ series, with its fairly rudimentary collaging of multiple
images, appears over-complicated in its message, except for art buffs and those
prepared to put in a considerable amount of time in order to understand their
message. The ‘Gilt City’ images are simpler and have a more realistic
appearance: their messages are hard to glean, but their relative structural
simplicity allows the viewer to have a go at deciphering this meaning, even if
ultimately even the expert may fall short.
How does Goto’s output affect my
own work? As with the first two series discussed here I am making no attempt to
conceal the fact that the images for my project are photo-montages.
Furthermore, I have produced one or two images that, whilst much less
aesthetically pleasing, place human figures in a landscape environment.
These have not been successful and, at the time of writing (November
2016), are likely to be dropped. However, I think that I can develop some ideas
along the lines of the third series, juxtaposing two or more images to make a
point or tell a story, perhaps encouraging the viewer to find the key to their
significance from within the picture. Coincidentally, one early image that I
produced, which my tutor likes (and is therefore likely to be incorporated into
the final portfolio!), is Image 4 (below), a composite reflecting on my mother’s
move into residential care. This image has some relation to ‘Gilt City’ in the
manner in which it juxtaposes (in this case) two images to make a point.
Image 4
However, Goto’s composites fail
to move me. Together, they carry a message and that is not an emotional one. I
will have to look elsewhere for inspiration in that regard.
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