Murray Eskdale: Perspective

“Murray Eskdale: Perspective”
14 January – 5 February 2022
Wednesday – Friday, 11am–5pm; Saturday 11am–1 pm.
Reception: 14 January, 5pm–7pm [MY VACCINE PASS required]

The exhibition “Murray Eskdale: Perspective” (14 January – 5 February) explores the relations between “the object world” (objects as they exist outside the self, in the “world”) and the digital image. Eskdale’s approach takes its inspiration from the tradition known as “New Objectivity,” inaugurated in 1920s Germany, in particular, its more recent iterations expressed in the work of Hilla and Bernd Becher (1934–2015, 1931-2007) and that of their students, most notably Andreas Gurksky (1955–present). As such the photographs in the exhibition “navigate between the artificiality of the object world and its equally inauthentic digital representation,” in the words of Philip Madill. Two groups of photographs, one depicting Hong Kong architecture, the other Dunedin, provide, again quoting Philip Madill, “a framework for representing the contrasting effects of urban design.” As such, explains Madill, “the show presents us with a question when confronted with the reality of the digital image. Which reality are we experiencing? That captured by the camera, the viewer, or the artist?"

References

Philip Madill, “New Perspectives: The Photography of Murray Eskdale,” in MURRAY ESKDALE: PERSPECTIVE, ed. Alistair Fox, and Hilary Radner, published on the occasion of the exhibition “Murray Eskdale: Perspective,” 14 January – 5 February 2022, RDS Gallery (Dunedin: 2022).

IMAGE
Detail, MURRAY ESKDALE, "Apartments HK," pigment print 1/3, 2017/2021.
MURRAY ESKDALE, "Scenic Hotel," pigment print 1/3, 2021/2021.
MURRAY ESKDALE, "John Wickliffe," pigment print 1/3, 2017/2021.
MURRAY ESKDALE, "Rodgers House," pigment print 1/3, 2021/2021.