Archive for tag: Mike O'Kane

'On Assignment'- Photographic Works by Michael G O'Kane


Artist Statement:

In simple terms, my work takes 30-40 year old play worn Matchbox toys, and examines how the old role models appear when exposed to the perspectives and influences of a contemporary environment.

I had already worked with toys and film based photography as an art student. I also was quite interested in recording images of life-sized vehicles stacked up ready for crushing at the metal recycling plant, because the idea of the faithful travelling companion ending up like that really resonated with me.

I graduated in 1997, and was working as a sculptor, when quite recently I found utterly worn out Matchbox toys in the 50 cent bin at a local 'junk' shop. I had an aha moment as past and present ideas crashed together, and I felt these toys must still have some life in them; how to express that life ultimately led me to the body of work which I have called 'On Assignment.' A vintage toy buying spree ensued; many hours were spent cleaning away every speck of dirt, and highly polishing the vehicles.

When I tried to use more conventional sculptural techniques to re-contextualise the vintage play worn Matchbox toys in a contemporary reality, the toys were getting stuck literally and metaphorically, which was the opposite of the new life I had wanted for them.

I recalled my art school photography, and how I was making images by placing toys with other objects. On reflection, those juxtapositions were very constrained by the technology I had available to me.

Post art school I had equipped myself with digital cameras, and become familiar with the digital technology of Photoshop. I realised I could use digital technology to achieve my aims, by layering the familiar and the whimsical to create thought-provoking contemporary tableaus, so the old toys could play again. (I see parallels with a cameo performance by an old and rather wrinkled actor, playing him/herself, on an assignment.)

 

Broader artistic context:

Back in art school in the 1990's I studied the photography of Boyd Webb, though my works are not as theatrical as his. However, like Webb I am essentially a sculptor, using photography to re-contextualize aspects of our reality. My works are not 'photography' as such - rather, I am using digital technology as the tool that best articulates the themes and substance of this particular series of works.

I feel I am traversing some space in-between the postmodern idea of self-aware transparent constructed reality, and the modernist idea that the camera doesn't lie. In my case the ultimate awareness of suspension of disbelief is shared with the viewer, who is free to initially take the images at 'face value' with a certainty on my part that the constructed nature of the reality will soon reveal itself to them.