Photographer Spotlight: Joel-Peter Witkin

Ridgeline Panorama. Near Dillon, Colorado, 2013

Sometimes I get tired of studying the standard gorgeous landscape, the standard gorgeous portraits, the standard “decisive moment” street image, the standard  B&W abstract (as in mine above), and so on. When I do, I go in search of inspiration from photographers who are really pushing the limits of the art. Joel-Peter Witkin is certainly one–to the point of controversy. (WARNING for you here: His stuff is bizarre and quite shockingly graphic…quite different from my very vanilla image above, so don’t continue or click on any links if you don’t think you can handle it.)

Why does he do such weird stuff? Maybe it was the fact that he is from Brooklyn…or that his father was Jewish and his mother Catholic…or, and maybe we are a bit closer here, maybe it is because, as a child, he watched a traffic accident victim’s head roll toward him from the crash scene. Yep, that would tend to make a person see the world differently. He currently lives and works in New Mexico and is in his 70s.

So, what does he do? He tends to work in monochrome, using techniques that produce something akin to the old Daguerrotype images of the 19th century. His subject matter? The bizarre–corpses, deformed people, sado-masochists, social outcasts, animals, body parts acquired from wherever he can, and so on… To see some examples, click HERE for a sample exhibition. If all that makes you wonder a bit more about the guy, HERE is the Wiki entry for some background. Finally, for a recent video interview, HERE is a link to a 2012 sit-down talk with the artist (8-minute YouTube video).

Apart from being bizzare, graphic, and even revolting, his work is definitely imbued with a certain genius. Superb composition using highly provocative subject matter, often based on great images and paintings of the masters–that takes some thought.

I am not sure I like his work and I don’t think my future work will come to emulate anything he does (well, maybe the Daguerreotype idea). And I’m not sure I would hang any of his more “out there” images in my home. But, I certainly can respect his talent–and it certainly shows us that we, as aspiring, individual art photographers, often work within some very narrow, self-imposed, limits.