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Photographs by Chris Dunker
Tell Us What You Think--We're Here To Listen
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This blog, the posts, or the comments contained herein are not the official opinion(s) of Brigham Young University, the College of Fine Arts & Communications, or the BYU Museum of Art. The images have been provided for educational use only. Any other use or reproduction of the images is prohibited, unless authorized by the BYU Museum of Art
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- General Comments, Thoughts or Queries
- Why do you think these photographs are being shown...
- What impact do you think Geneva Steel's closing ha...
- Is the closing of Geneva Steel evidence of progres...
- What was your favorite work in this exhibition?
- What do you think is the theme of this exhibition?
- How important are machines and technology to the a...
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March
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22 comments:
The General Maintenance Changing Room photograph.
The emptiness of the room, the soft light that illuminates the room where once voices filled the silent space and workers readied for their shifts.
The clothes, abandoned in the eerie stillness...like bodies from a hanging tree.
General Maintenance Changing Room, for all the unanswered questions about who filled those shoes, who wore those overalls... what has become of them now?
And Finishing Stands, Rolling Mill - it immediately evokes the imagery of Grand Central Station, NY; the light filters softly through the rafters, and the finishing stands looking like ancient trains, standing at attention but empty of passengers.
I don't know if it's my favorite, but I am also so moved by the General Maintenance Changing Room image. The whole exhibition evokes so much more emotion than I thought it would for me, but this image in particular produced such a reaction in me. It reminds me so much of a Holocaust-type image - abandoned clothing that represents so much of a life or lifestyle now discontinued. Amazing that Chris was able to capture that particular emotion without depicting any people.
I also really liked the Changing Room photograph. It arrested me. My other favorites were pictures of the Power House. All the photos mounted on aluminum had such vibrant colors, but the photos of the power house were particularly captivating.
The Scrap Yard. It's frightfully reminiscent of a battlefield, after the war. Discarded material lying in the cold in heaping piles, with a tragically beautiful background of the mountains and mournful clouds overhead.
"Central maintenance after removal of roof." The snow-covered beams, the fleeting scepters of indiscernible humans . . . it evoked the spirit of the exhibit very well.
Also, the colors of "Coils" made me ponder what a world dominated by machines would look like.
I was the only person in the vast hallways--it only increased the eeriness. Alone is the only way to view it.
The three Central maintenance pieces were so significant of the simple processes of life, to me. Very vocal to me and I feel it wraps up the whole of your work. Thank you for such an experience!
Power House Boiler deck- and in general the ones that were monochromatic (which was most of them). I loved the geometry and complexity of the pictures.
I thought it was very interesting to look @ geneva before it was destroyed.
I most enjoyed the three photographs together of the Central Maintenance. I thought it was amazing to see the changes from one phase of deconstruction to the next. Thanks for the exhibit.
As I walked into one room, I was struck by the huge photo of the excavator. It seemed that the 'horror' that was depicted in the show was being blamed on that toothed machine. All the smooth pipes and turning gears had worked well, until the monster came along...
Having worked in a large plant, many of the images evoked for me that odd sort of memory that lies between sweet nostalgia and gross discomfort at having the unpleasant past resurface. The changing room, so often cited in the previous comments, was to me just a changing room, the artistry of the shot almost jarring for its incongruity. The various pulpits and control rooms were so like the control room where I spent weeks replacing fire detectors beneath the feet of fevered operations personnel who were trying to cope with a myriad of small emergencies, looking at them I could smell the gunk that got all over my gloves messing with the carpet. The neatly-printed OSHA-mandated warning signs everywhere everyone ignores, the spray-paint notices on odd walls everyone pays attention to, the pipes large enough to drive a small car through, the permanent scaffolds and indoor cherry-pickers and painstakingly-neat cable trays no one understands running through vast halls of chaos as familiar to everyone as their own bedroom… it’s a different world than most of my peers can even imagine.
That said, if I had to pick just one image to own, I would select “Mixer Building North East 2004.” I love the streams of rust coming out of the joints, a reminder of how the manufacturing world works: you make something functional and moderately durable, let nature do whatever nature does until it impedes functionality, and then replace what was naturalized. There is a beauty there for those calm enough to see it, a reassurance that even in the very heart of man’s conquest of nature, nature is actively reclaiming its own.
One picture made a political statement to me:
The huge excavator, HITACHI (made in Japan), brought here to help TEAR DOWN AMERICA.
the one with the blue box, the colours are so beautifully brought out, and it contrasts greatly.
Q-BOP Pit looking South 2004 was powerful to me with the sunlight streaming in. I was given a tour by my uncle there years ago and to see it in such different light was sad and reminiscent of the pouring hot liquid that once lighted this building. I also found the Changing room very powerful the left behind belt, clothing still hanging reminded me of the workers leaving it all behind to go into a job market, where they wouldn't know where to begin.
By far, the Scrap Yard, 2007, Plate 39, sums up the exhibition. The long perspective lines, draw you in, the entire journey towards the heart of the painting, you are entranced with melancholia, the scenes of steel carnage, old, deprecation, depreciation, dismantlement, and death. The clouds, reflecting top to bottom, only reemphasize the loneliness, the miasmic mystery, that mourns for us to see it's demise.
I liked the Central Maintenance Change Room. It's really interesting to see how the problem of where to put people's clothes was dealt with. They could have put in a locker room, or assigned cubbies, but instead they devised a system of pulleys with baskets. Everything has become so modern these days, that people don't solve their problems in genius, unique and intriguing ways anymore. It was also delightful to see the hanging baskets in use. The clothes added a feeling of occupancy.
My Favorite picture was the Q-BOP Vessel with Pilot. The fire at the top looked nice.
#1 blast furnace was my personal favorite, though the entire exhibit reminded me of "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand, a book that everyone should read at least once.
I loved the vessel with Pilot and the q-bop exhaust.
The exhaust piece was so perfectly symmetrical and there was this cardboard box right in the middle that stuck out like a sore thumb.
the Vessel with Pilot was just a gorgeous piece in general, the stunning color.
It kind of looks like the entrance into hell. ...
I do love most of this exhibit, though. the use of line and color was beautiful.
While all the photographs were absolutely amazing, there were a few that moved me. The General Maintenance Changing Room brought tears to my eyes, and was really heartbreaking to bring the humanity to the destruction, to really pinpoint the lives that were affected by it. Stunning. I also really loved the 1100 Hitachi Excavator..I loved the contrast of it in respect to its surroundings, and to see what actually was responsible for the dismantlement. Mostly I loved everything. Thanks.
I really enjoyed all the pictures. They displayed works of emotion and it all really connected to me. I will most definitely be returning soon to show my friends.
THANKS!!
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