In the heart of Chelsea, King’s Road, the Saatchi Gallery is one of the most interesting venues in London for contemporary art lovers. The current exhibition is entitled Out of Focus: Photography, and it will last until the 22nd of July 2012.
It is a survey of 40 artists, depicted with a massive array of techniques and different styles and methods.
Interesting fact, a lot of the photographers are women. And it seems that they have a lot of absorbing stories to tell, from a particular perspective.
The first gallery is entirely dedicated to Katy Grannan’s studies of eccentric old people on the sidewalks of San Francisco and L.A.
Every portrait is anonymous, which might seem a contradiction. The artist opted, in fact, for a risky collaborative portrait session, but the complicity has been agreed by the protagonists with the rule of an anonymous label. In her work the power of every expression, of every wrinkle in these faces pushes the viewer to think about human beings and unique individualities. All the experiences lived by every person, make an individual different from anyone else, and this is something that can be symbolized by photographs in a raw, mysterious and powerful way.
Phoebe Rudomino is an underwater photographer, based at the Underwater Stage at Pinewood Studios, the only facility of its kind in the world. Her behind-the-scenes underwater point of view bring the visitor to face the deep, the unconscious side hidden in every individual.
The perspective of the meeting point between nature and culture is exposed by Noémie Goudal as a worrying invasion. In this photo entitled Cascade she highlights the man-made plastic which affects the organic, sometimes in an invisible and silent way. It will take to the viewer more than one glance to realise that something is wrong.
Elina Brotherus self portrait, Femme à sa toilette, marks a moment in which the artist began to use the autobiographical facts of her life and combine them with her delving more into art history. Her study of human alienation and life paradoxes is fascinating and upsetting at the same time.
Edited by Matilde Casaglia
