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A vist at Fred Herzog Exhibition, Equinox Gallery, Project space, Vancouver
Vancouver, British Columbia - Thursday, February 23, 2012
By: Mario deSantis
马里奥

Friday afternoon, February 17, I visited, along with my wife Sharon and in-laws Doug and Dorothy, (below right) the photography exhibition of Fred Herzog at Vancouver’s Equinox Art Gallery[1]. The gallery is located in an industrial centre of East Vancouver and the related building is a huge wide open warehouse.

I am currently taking two photography courses at the University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford B.C., and as a consequence I have been visiting galleries to learn and stimulate my interest in this field.

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We entered the gallery and right away I asked a receptionist if I could take pictures of Herzog’s exhibited pictures. To my surprise I received an affirmative response and so I went back to my car to get my Canon Rebel T3i.
I began to look at the pictures and take pictures of pictures. Herzog’s exhibition is centred on his KodakChrome slide pictures taken in Vancouver in the late fifties and sixties. Most of his slides were never printed until digital technology allowed Herzog to have them printed through pigment-based inkjet printers. The pictures are a striking documentation of Vancouver’s life of the time, neon signs everywhere, barbershops, people waiting for buses, life around cafes and small grocery stores, families taking walks, children playing, panoramic views.

Doug and Dorothy know Vancouver quite well and so they were able to comment on how the streets and landscaping of Vancouver had changed since the pictures were taken. As I was concerned, after living an existential life with my family for the last some 30 years in small towns of the Canadian prairies, I limited myself in appreciating the vivid colours, composition and the consistent white soft framing of the pictures. The fact, that I took pictures of pictures, forced me to put more attention on the pictures. 

It never crossed my mind that photography could have been a visual art; my first experience with photography was to take family pictures as momentoes of the time and only later, at a greater extent, with the advent of digital cameras, I took the liberty of taking pictures of places I visited.  Now I understand that photography, as a visual art, cannot be disassociated from the life experiences of the photographer and therefore, in the body of work of the photographer’s transcends their intention and understanding of life.

Herzog says that his photography is about content and that you cannot stage pictures’[2].

I
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have to provide a presentation about Chinese photographer Liu Zheng and in my first readings about him, I understand that he was first a documentary photographer. Then later, in order to provide a message of universal social freedom, he began to stage his photographs so to break down the myths of Chinese superior culture, the myth of the Peking Opera, the myth of powerful emperors, the myth of emperor’s enlightenment and the contemporary myth of the new riches[3].

Herzog has his own life and cultural experiences as Liu Zheng has a different life and cultural experience. However, the common denominator between the two, is that they are both great photographers. Therefore, photography, as a visual art, has as many philosophies as the many artistic photographers and such photographers can become famous under different social and environmental circumstances. In fact, Herzog has become a worldwide recognized photographer, not because he specifically strived to become famous, but because of the combination of his early unrecognized work and of the recently emerged digital technology, which has allowed the artistic and colourful printing of his KodakChrome slides. 

At the end of the visit, I talked again with the receptionist and I unfolded the different books written by Herzog. I commented to the receptionist that I am a mature photography student and that at this stage, I cannot buy photography books, as I come across them, since I am already spending so much money, as I begin to appreciate this visual art.

After I talked to the receptionist, I mentioned to Sharon that at this time there was really no need to buy any book, if there was any need, it was to buy one for a gift to give away; however, she had a look at Herzog’s books and she bought one. I asked why she bought a book and if I could see what she bought, and she said she bought it for a gift and that I could not see it and I added: ‘for whom, me?’ Sharon said no, it was not for me. This morning I find out the book ‘Fred Herzog Photographs’ signed by the author is for me; we woke up early and I found it on my desk.

References:
[1] Fred Herzog Exhibition, Portfolio, Equinox Gallery http://www.equinoxgallery.com/artists/portfolio/fred-herzog/1

[2] “Fred Herzog: Philosophy of photography”, Vancouver Sun, January 27, 2007 http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=02286fd5-d6ab-4c03-aada-e965332b0781

[3] “On Liu Zheng's Photographs”, Gu Zheng, Associate Professor, Journalism School of Fudan University, Shanghai, China http://www.artliuzheng.com/2010/0603/89.html