"liguero""In Our Own Likeness"
I was originally drawn to Fran Herbello's work because I like the way he merges aspects of masculinity and femininity. The photographs in his exhibit, "In Our Own Likeness," show how the body is objectified not just because it is the subject presented to the viewer, but because the body parts themselves have been turned into everyday objects. In his photograph "liguero," Herbello takes the associations we have with the garter belt being a sexy, feminine object and turns it around completely by placing it on a man and making it seem as if it is holding up the hair on his legs instead of stockings. As the viewer, we are tricked into thinking we are seeing a melted candle when in fact it is a human ear with a light coming from it, in the photograph "vela." His work is disturbing, yet fascinating at the same time because it is hard to distinguish what is truthful from what has been created.
Fran Herbello breaks the usual way of seeing the familiar and documents this with seemingly scientific black and white photos. He is interested in restructuring identity and self-analysis in a society which has been altered by the influence of digital technology. His art can be deemed sculptural as well as photographic. It seems that the authenticity of the digital image is constantly being questioned but Manuel Sendon, the writer of the review for The Alternative Museum says, "Little does it matter if the scar in the image of the backs was created by Photoshop...or as a result of the search for a person who possessed such a scar in real life. What matters, is not the process followed but the result obtained and the underlying concept."
Herbello's work is reminiscent of a lot of Man Ray's surrealist photography. "Corse" reminds me of a photograph that has been taken of someone who has had body modification. Therefore, to me, it is not as shocking as the other photographs because it is something I have seen before. Yet, placing it with these other pieces makes me think of it as more abnormal while still causing me to question whether or not people will start changing their bodies in the same fashion that is depicted in the other photographs.
Fran Herbello breaks the usual way of seeing the familiar and documents this with seemingly scientific black and white photos. He is interested in restructuring identity and self-analysis in a society which has been altered by the influence of digital technology. His art can be deemed sculptural as well as photographic. It seems that the authenticity of the digital image is constantly being questioned but Manuel Sendon, the writer of the review for The Alternative Museum says, "Little does it matter if the scar in the image of the backs was created by Photoshop...or as a result of the search for a person who possessed such a scar in real life. What matters, is not the process followed but the result obtained and the underlying concept."
Herbello's work is reminiscent of a lot of Man Ray's surrealist photography. "Corse" reminds me of a photograph that has been taken of someone who has had body modification. Therefore, to me, it is not as shocking as the other photographs because it is something I have seen before. Yet, placing it with these other pieces makes me think of it as more abnormal while still causing me to question whether or not people will start changing their bodies in the same fashion that is depicted in the other photographs.
"Corse"
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