Author: Peter Peryer

This author has written 801 articles

Watch Your Language: Art and Photography.

 
 
 
This is quite a difficult post to put together because
I’m writing about something that I sense is
wrong, but am not sure if I can put it into
words.
 
Being a photographer I often notice the phrase: Art and Photography.
I’ve heard it twice in the last
week on National Radio.
 
There is something
about this phrase that makes me wince.
 
I feel that it is possible that if deconstructed it
could be found to contain some residual prejudice against
photography as a medium, after all, one does not hear:
Art and Painting.
Or: Art and Sculpture.
 
There is a hierarchy in the media used by artists in making
their work.
Until recently anyway, Paint has been King.
Centuries of this being so seems to have hardwired the concept into people’s brains.
 
A medium such as Printmaking, for example, would be much further down their hierarchy. I mention this medium because I like
woodcuts and linocuts, although my impression is
that these two have almost disappeared at present.
 
The idea that a serious artist could choose a camera rather than
a brush, is one, which for many, seems to
take a lot of swallowing.
 
I don’t believe in the idea that any one medium is
inherently superior to another of course. I don’t think
that’s how art works.
 
It’s quite common for me to be in a conversation with someone
about my work, even a client, and they are repeatedly calling my
photographs paintings. I never say anything because I don’t want to
embarrass them and also because I’m quite fascinated, but I can see the process.
They are feeling that this object in front of them is considered art so it just
can’t be a photograph, it must be a painting, that’s how deep the
indoctrination goes.
 

A Letter For Students.

 
 
 
Dear students (and teachers),
I have a problem at present. I’m receiving
numerous requests from students seeking
help with their photographic assignments.
In the week before last I received 5, including 2 from Australia.
 
The assignments are often lengthy and involve
asking me a number of complex questions
about some aspect of my work,
or life. Sometimes just reading them
feels like homework.
 
Anyway, I’d like
to be helpful so I’m making a suggestion
that students seek out a book that was
published last year.
Ask your teacher to buy it for the
department, perhaps.
It is full of information
of the kind that I am often asked for,
biographical for example.
It can be ordered from Parsons in Auckland
and delivered to you in 2 or 3 days.
It costs $49.95, freight will be a bit extra.
books@parsons.co.nz
+64 9 3031557

And I would suggest using a search engine
such as Google. Type in Peter Peryer and
a mountain of information comes up, images included.
Remember to refine your search by writing,
for example “Peter Peryer biography”.
Also, I do have this online journal, of which this
post is number 736. In this blog I show and talk
about my work from a variety of angles.
 
 

Elephants For Sale

 


 
 
 
Today it was a pleasure to see this work by New Plymouth artist, , Elephants
For Sale, at the Govett-Brewster here in New Plymouth.
 
Immediately I saw the work I felt that it had some presence,
and substance, it even seemed to breathe.
 
There was also some sense of relief because unlike most of the
work on at the gallery there were no words. I didn’t have to read my way
into it it.
 
My personal opinion is that Don Driver is very under appreciated in New
Zealand, I’m not sure why.
 
The photo below is of a Don Driver exhibition at
Tauranga Art Gallery last year. The link will take
you to a recent article in Art NZ, about his work.
 

Aeroplanes

 
 
 
While I’m on the subject of my interest in
aeroplanes, I thought that I might finish
by including this 2005 photo. I took it
at MOTAT, a museum in Auckland
that collects, amongst other things,
a variety of historic aircraft. They even
have a Lancaster bomber there, a colossus
with its four Rolls Royce Merlin engines.
 
This is a diorama, and the planes
are models.

Trinity 2007

 

 
 
 
 
In a couple of recent posts I wrote about my interest
in aeroplanes, and how I have from time to time attempted
to photograph them. This image I have on my wall.
 
The photo was taken from my balcony
here in New Plymouth. Perhaps I have written about it
before.
 
These 3 planes are privately owned Russian Yaks. Sturdy
two seater sports planes, built for people who
like to fly for fun.
 
Below is a photo of a Starlifter that I took at an airshow in
Wanaka. I can see why I was tempted but ultimately
the picture doesn’t make the cut. If the undercarriage
had been up it would have improved the image
but still not enough I suspect.
 
 
 

Coleus Again

 
 
For about 6 months I would say, I have been
photographing Coleus quite intensely.
There is something in the patterns of their leaves
that calls me back to them again and again.
I am their slave.
 
I have even begun growing them at home, just as
my mother did. Even as a boy and a young man, I
admired them, but nothing to the degree that
I do now. I’ve not had any of my own
until now.
 
So far the photos that I have taken have
shown hints of what I am after but it’s not
been enough.
But this latest attempt seems to
move closer to the core.
It registers some clicks on
the Geiger Counter for me.
 
I couldn’t put it into words. Except that
it’s possible that the picture that I am
seeking is not about coleus at all, but
something that is being carried in those
patterns. They are a kind of code that, not in any
conscious way of course, I recognise and am
driven to follow.
 

Remote

 
 
This is a remotely controlled vehicle. What it is called
exactly I don’t know I’m sorry. Where it was purchased I don’t
know either. It was in the possession of a 4 year old
at a house I visited.
 
She had it moving at speed
around the sitting room floor,
negotiating chair legs etc.
 
I used to visit toy shops quite frequently
in search of subject material
but it’s been a little
while since I’ve visited one.
I’m obviously going to have to
do something about that!
 
 
 
 

The Decisive Moment

 
Today was graduation day at Auckland University,
there were gowns everywhere. I enjoyed the sight,
it added texture to the city.
However with wasn’t until later in the day
that, looking out of the upstairs window
of a building in the vicinity, I suddenly
felt as if I had to reach for my camera.
It seemed that this was a touching moment
in these peoples lives, and just as importantly for me,
I liked the arrangement of shapes that they made.
I know that the image is out of focus. I had
no time to open the window, instead I shot the
photo through the slightly dirty glass.

Two Auckland Views

 
 
Here are a couple of views of Auckland
that I saw recently and couldn’t resist
having a look at via my camera.
 
I have noticed that when I do make
cityscape photos like this I do have a
tendency to make them look post-apocalyptic,
or at the least, like something from the
Communist era. There are never any
open windows, or people on the footpaths.
 
In fact even now, when I look at the
photo below I find myself itching
to get Photoshop to work and remove
the lights from the windows.

About 30 years ago when
I was just starting as a photographer
I was asked if I would take a series of
publicity photos for Parnell, which
at that time was rapidly being gentrified,
and was working on building it’s image.
I approached the task with gusto,
there was a fee, that was an added
inducement. When I showed the first dozen
or so photos to the person supervising the project
it was amicably agreed that perhaps I was
not the right person for the job.
The entire bunch of photos made
Parnell look like Chernobyl.

More Planes

 
 
A couple of blogs back I discussed how aeroplanes
are a subject that I never lose interest in, not
that I have accumulated a large number of images
to show for it.
 
Here is one however that I did keep, in fact I
printed up a few. This was probably about
15 years ago.
 
It is a RNZAF Hercules making an approach
on Whenuapai where the squadron is based.
At the time of the photo it was flying
over Herald Island.
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