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This series of images deals with spaces: the space between rulers and ruled, between man's works and nature, and the apparent lack of movement within the spaces. It also refers to power: the spaces within which power operates, either natural or manufactured. By contrasting the two, we are made aware of the spaces and obstacles within each one of us. To have regard for sausages or laws, it was said in an earlier and reputedly gentler age, it is necessary to not see them being made. In our age, which prides itself on mass communication, self-censorship has grown to a point where the exercise of power over man and nature is routinely excluded from everyday thoughts of many. The visceral subjects of nature and power remain hidden because of the squeamishness of the observer. The photographer has moved past this obstacle and presented us with finely balanced images of governmental corridors, nuclear power facilities, and lichen grown branches, where the human element seems removed and inconsequential. The viewer of these images may feel like the only one present. The photographers skill helps develop the unlikely contrasts further. He draws us into a place where the hidden is made manifest. The converging lines of the manmade corridors draw the eye into spaces inaccessible to most citizens. The apparently impenetrable tangle of branches seems to block access to the eye and foot, while the area beyond is surely within reach of those wishing for entry. The struggle between order, represented by structures built with a visual defiance of nature, and disorder, represented by apparently impassible branches, exists inside as well as outside the observer. When the intellect can travel
no further, the senses may delight in this collection of images,
where light and shade are contrasting with natural and artificial
shapes, where the distance between the photographer and his subjects
enables us to contemplate at leisure, and maybe also consider what
it is which is cordoned off with mankind. Adrian Tyler (London, 1963). A self-taught photographer, Tyler began to show his work individually in the late 90's. Since then, the artist has developed his work through several series that explore the dialectic tension between the natural and the human, reality and artifice, paying special attention to how man has modified the surrounding landscape in our times. Among his latest exhibitions are "El ciclo de la vida" (The cycle of life), organized last year in San Sebastián's Koldo Mitxelena center along with Edward Burtinsky and Joel Meyerowitz (curator: Ramón Esparza). Barcelona's Fundación Fotocolectania has shown his work in two occasions in recent years. This spring, his work was also present in the exhibition "Construir, habitar, pensar" (Building, dwelling, thinking), curated by Fernando Castro at the IVAM. Adrian Tyler |
