05/08/2022
Our Year 11 Photography, Video and Digital Imaging students have created an exhibition entitled ‘Kill Painting’, currently on display in the MacKillop Art Centre. This curation of photographs explores the blurred lines between the expressive forms: photography, painting, and sculpture.
The inspiration for the name of this exhibition comes from French painter Paul Delaroche who, after seeing the first daguerreotype in 1839 (the earliest and publicly available photographic process), declared “from today, painting is dead!”
Throughout history, the invention of photography has long been considered by some as a disruption to the artworld since, at that time and for centuries beforehand, painting was the main art form through which images were recorded. On the other hand, since its invention, many throughout art history have argued photography is NOT an art form. Art critic Arthur Danto stated “Photography can fully be art, but in some ways, it falls short of less technical pursuits, such as painting. The photographer can represent only what is there, whereas the painter is free to use his imagination and show things in ways other than how they are or were.”
Interestingly, the postmodern artworld continues to challenge traditional ideas, and within the context of photography, video and digital imaging, the lines between art forms and photographic processes continue to be blurred. In 2018, writer for The Guardian, Sean Hagan wrote “increasingly though, contemporary photography is all about ‘interrogating the medium’, which often means shifting it away from documentary towards other, more conceptually driven art forms – abstract painting, sculpture, performance, video installation.”
With this context in mind, our students engaged in a making process which pushed their traditional understanding of ‘photographer as documenter’, and created, manipulated, and arranged still life subject matter just as a painter would before applying brush to canvas. Given an assortment of silk flowers, students sprayed, marbled, and dripped paint mediums prior to coordinating and capturing their content with sophistication and resolution.
We invite members of our community to view these stunning works in the Exhibition Catalogue and pre-order their favourite fine art prints by completing the order form enclosed. All proceeds will be going to our Year 11 Charity Partners.
