Monday 15 August 2011

Trend: Compactus

IDRIS KAHN
Idris Kahn's Every… Bernd And Hilla Becher… is an homage to the Becher's iconic typological studies of water towers, gas reservoirs and other feats of modernist engineering structures. Kahn's work (left) digitally overlays each Becher typology to form monumental images that read more like drawings than photographs. Where the Becher's images could be read as literal, perhaps even cold, studies, Kahn's have a haunting quality hinting at a dystopian future.

This layering technique was masterminded by Nancy Burson who made striking composite images of political figures and celebrities in the 1980s pre Photoshop. Japanese artist Ken Kitano, like Nancy Burson, is interested in people. Ken's work (right) takes groupings of people and layers them together to reveal a single subject.