Jeff Wall is a contemporary photographer who specializes in large-scale prints displayed in light boxes, which are normally used to house and illuminate advertisements. Many of his works are homages to other artists, as seen in the first two images above. The first is a modern take on Manet's "Bar at Folies Bergere", the second mimics Hokusai's woodblock print "A Sudden Gust of Wind". The third photograph is a literary tribute, depicting the iconic opening chapter of Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man. Wall's photographs are often cinematic productions, involving crews of a couple dozen people, huge budgets and meticulous planning. By making his photographs elaborate affairs, he strays from the conventions of traditional photography, which holds its roots in "street" photography and stresses the medium's unique ability to depict reality. In my humble humble opinion, Wall's work questions the delineation between our real lives and our fabricated parallel lives as created by the media and technology. Our ability to distinguish between a documentary and directorial shot, advertisement and art, modern photographs and paintings by old masters is hindered by technology and the vastness of our visual consciousness. The modern world is so awash with images--many of them fabricated--that we have become numb to their power, we have completely absorbed them into our daily lives.
Yet in contrast, Wall's photographs share the same allure contained in Hokusai and Manet's centuries-old works... what do they possess that pamphlet photos and announcement flyers do not? Does the beauty originate from the hands of the photographer, or the hands of the Manet, Hokusai and Ellison? Is it corrupt, in a sense, for Wall to key into our visual familiarity with such masterpieces to evoke such awe?
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