Artist Analysis #1

Robert and Shana ParkHarrison

Robert ParkeHarrison and his wife Shana ParkHarrison work together to create some of the most surrealistic, dream-like, and disturbing images of our time. Much of their work concentrates on the ever deteriorating relationship between the natural environment and humans. Almost all their works have a poetic quality to them, and are made to look antique, like they could have been taken in the early 1900's. Though much of their earlier work was shot in black and white, their more recent work uses warm tone printing to create an abstract and monochromatic color to the images. All their images are created by with elaborate set ups and then digitally altered to create the signature effect that is so recognizable.
This image shows a businessman with his back facing the view, and arms spread out, holding a birdcage in his left hand and strings attached to a dozen or so flying birds. This is a very powerful image that is thought to represent mans dream of flight, or showing the impact humans are having on the environment in modern times, kind of holding back the natural progression of nature. Shooting against a blank background helps to focus the attention on the subject with no distractions. The composition does a great job of keeping the viewers eyes moving around by dispersing the birds to the top of the frame and then pulling the eye back down the strings to the main subject. This image looks as if it was shot on a medium format camera, considering its squared aspect ratio. To make the background blurry he used a large aperture and to get the birds still, he used a very fast shutter speed.

Flying Lesson by Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison

It was hard to pick just one, so here's another one of their work. This work is entitled Burn Season and depicts a man in a business suit, with many small bags of water attached to himself, walking into a burning field. Its possible that he's committing a sacrifice of some kind.

Burn Season by Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison