Week 2 Practical

A segment from Sophy Rickett's "Cypress Screen" piece

For our week 2 practical we visited the McManus Gallery and each chose a piece we liked and analysed it. I chose Sophy Rickett's photography "Cypress Screen."


Title of Work:  Cypress Screen

Artist's Name:  Sophy Rickett

Year:  2001

First Impressions:  the piece is frightening and unsettling.  I feel as though the viewer is hiding - hunted by the source of the light.

Description:  The piece consists of three horizontally adjacent images on black and white photographic triptych mounted on aluminium.

The images themselves are very minimal with a straight forward composition.  The three large photo manipulated photographs each depict an adjacent viewpoint of a group of trees, spread apart at an equal width.  The majority of the piece is inky black in colour with a blinding white behind the trunks of the trees, with a subtle rim light on the top foliage.

Observations (what do I deduce the piece is communicating):  I feel the piece could be communicating several things;  The feeling of being lost and alone in an environment that is frightening and alien to you;  The feeling of being excluded from some sort of joyous activity and "kept in the dark" by your peers; The feeling of being trapped and hunted by some sort of unavoidable, incoming presence which is emphasised by the separation of the images as if they are surrounding the viewer.

Whatever the piece is communicating will be relative to the viewer.  What is the viewer hiding from and why?  What are they being excluded from and why does it feel so out of reach?

Critical View (what do I conclude the piece succeeds and/or fails at?):  The piece succeeds at creating an atmosphere of fear and negativity.  The all to encompassing presence of black/darkness makes the minimal presence of the white/lightness/positivity feel impossibly far away.

The photography itself has been very heavily edited and I imagine the originals would have been rather bland and more akin to some sort of study than a gallery piece so it has likely relied heavily on extreme photo manipulation.

Reflective View (a personal response):  Personally the piece makes me feel everything I described from my inital observations all at once.  Originally I was drawn to the piece at first glance due to its dark, creepy mood.  However upon closer analysis it is a very confrontational and I find this simultaneously compelling and unsettling - It reminds me of my own insecurities and anxiety towards the future.

Influence:  This piece has definitely challenged me and affirmed my belief that our interpretation of art is an extension of ourselves.  It has also taken a section of my city (the photographs were taken at the edge of Dundee) and transformed it in to imagery I would not have considered before.  Perhaps I will consider scenery I see every day in a different light from now on.

Action Response:  I will consider the effect minimalism has in art - A technique I have never tried before.