John Stezaker- INFLUENCE

'John Stezaker’s work re-examines the various relationships to the photographic image: as documentation of truth, purveyor of memory, and symbol of modern culture. In his collages, Stezaker appropriates images found in books, magazines, and postcards and uses them as ‘readymades’. Through his elegant juxtapositions, Stezaker adopts the content and contexts of the original images to convey his own witty and poignant meanings.'

 

 Visiting the Saatchi Gallery and being able to view John Stezakers's work has been very influential for me, as I really want to study portraiture- and I love his artistic take on it. 


The Marriage series really stood out for me as it is really unusual, but focuses on the concept of portraiture, both as art historical genre and public identity. Using publicity shots of classic film stars, he joins and overlaps famous faces, creating hybrid ‘icons’ that         separate the familiar to create sensations of the unnatural. Coupling male and female identity into unified characters, Stezaker points to a disjointed harmony, and the obvious divide in marriage. 




Each individual photo is unique, representing a different marriage. I liked that you had to look closely to reveal what was trying to be portrayed.  A split in gender.