OUT OF FOCUS

by Ginny Santora

Our May lecture meeting was provided by Joel Morgovsky, who debuted his latest presentation which was titled "Out of Focus". It is with the greatest pleasure that we invite Joel back to the club. He is well-known to RPS as he has been a judge and lecturer for us through the years. He is a professor of Psychology at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft. He has been photographing since 1977; he started by donig yearbook photo work.

At present Joel is the chairman of the Portfolio Review Committee at the Soho Photo Gallery in New York City. New Jersey photographer Joe Paduano is currently exhibiting at the gallery, and Joel himself will shown his works there this coming October. Three years ago, Joel was kind enough to lead RPS members on a gallery tour through Soho, starting with the Soho Photo Gallery. Joel mentioned that many galleries in Soho are now giving way to stores and due to the high rents are moving to Chelsea.

The photographic period that we currently are in can be described as post-modernism, where the old rules deserve to be challenged, everything is deconstructed, and the question is "is it really necessary"? Out of this, the question arises "What does a photograph look like?". In this regard Joel discussed the works of several photographers who practice an "out of focus" style.

Uta Barth's book "In Between Places" delves into the differences between "ground" and "field". When we move around in the world, one of the first cognitive things we do is decide what is figure. Barth creates her blurred images by focusing the camera on a blurred foreground, implying the absence of subject. Her "ground" series of images shows landscapes and interiors and makes reference to conventional photography. Her "field" series mimics cinematic framing conventions and implies activity in the foreground. Incidental and peripheral to the "it", her pictures are not of anything. They are empty containers into which we can project. The subject is between the viewer and the wall, which creates a certain kind of confusion. The viewer is the subject in and of her work, which resembles Minimalist, abstract painting. The word "originary" has been coined to describe Barth's work, a combination of the real and imaginary.

David Armstrong, who is gay, show images of his friends and lovers. He was inspired by Diane Arbus and her out-of-focus backgrounds. He brought friends into parks and the streets of Manhattan, and in 1992 he took people out of the landscapes. He was influenced by Atget, who shot fountains, gardens, and palaces. He explores defining a remembered past.

Joel also mentioned the works of Bill Armstrong (no relation to David) who also is producing "out of focus" images. An interesting discussion followed the presentation. Whether or not you can relate to the "out of focus" concept, it was certainly one of the more intriguing and controversial lectures presented by Joel, who can always be relied upon to provide an avant garde perspective, giving us much photographic food for thought!