IMAGERY IMAGE
“Lamut’s photographs are impossible to encompass in a single glance but, given enough time, they will tell us an interesting story.”
If we were to merely glance at the series, we would say that photographs in the series are landscapes with, here and there, a human figure. But, if we look deeper, we notice that the landscape is only the scenery for the main, much more serious subject. We are dealing here with conceptual work in which Andrej Lamut is trying to talk about complex lifre questions and indicated problems plaguing contemporary civilisation through art, namely photography. In order to achieve this, he decided to direct his own scenes and introduce motifs and bit players in roles that we wouldn’t necessarily expect there; for instance, the motif of death presonified convinces us that the shots caught are not accidental.
Brain drain, destruction of culture... those are only some of the facts that we face on a daily basis, and individuals deal with them differently ― some keep quiet and do not complain, while others turn towards revolt. Andrej Lamut has managed to show such characters in individual photographs by showing, on the one hand, individual trying to bear the Sisyphean burden and, on the other, the masses grabbing forks and other tools which, should they turn into arms, might provoke fate. Although the author speaks of strong subjects, he does it subtly. Since the protagonists are highly illustrative, they are reduced to small figures, almost lost in the size of the surrouding space. The sky is enormous compared to to the rest of the landscape, and thus takes the dominant role. The sky is dark and heavy and, pushing on the individual, it embodies everything the artist is trying to fight against.
Podoba podobe / Imagery Image on display at MSUM - Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Black-and-white technique, almost square form and framing with very low point of view achieve the impresion of stability and balance, so the pictures have a visually calming effect. Doubtlessly contributing to this is the fact that the artist has chosen a very traditional technique of picture-making, as well as the placing of the action in rural surroundings. Connecting to times past, Andrej Lamut invokes the feeling of security. The agitation we feel despite this when looking at the photographs spings exclusively from the messages we read in the action.
Thus we can conclude that, for Andrej Lamut, contrast is highly important. In addition to the black and white of the photographs, they also juxtapose the large and the small, the contemporary and the traditional, agitation and peace, man and nature, while the superposition of opposing elements allows the author to invite the observer to give the photographs sufficient attention. The dimensions force us to step away in order to see the whole, and then immediately call us to come closer and take a better look. Lamut’s photographs are impossible to encompass in a single glance but, given enough time, they will tell us an interesting story.
Saša Brkić