As a once-upon-a-time advertising art director and writer, Greville Patterson progressively became more and more educated in the art of photography, both commercial and otherwise.
“While there is much to be appreciated in commercial photography, it was the ‘otherwise’ that I found the most compelling. Discoveries such as the Swiss magazine ‘Camera’ were a revelation in its explorations of what a photograph could be.
Having also, in my teenage years, attended painting classes, I developed an appreciation of abstraction, particularly the painting, sculpture and textiles created by artists and teachers such as Klee, Kandinsky and Albers at the Bauhaus.
For me, the liberation of colour and form from life-like representation, illustration and storytelling was a giant leap forward.
The visual arts suddenly approached the qualities of music; in my mind the purist, most non-narrative and abstract of all arts.
Not so surprising then that the variety of abstract shapes and subtle colour variations in discarded pumpkin slices on the kitchen bench should have me reaching for the iPhone.
The prints are now in self-isolation, but somehow I feel the “Butternut Parade” video is a more intriguing way to present the abstract shapes as they dissolve one to the other.
As far as a personal approach to, or a philosophy of taking pictures, I find it hard to go beyond Garry Winogrand’s statement…
“I photograph to find out what something will look like photographed”. “
Greville Patterson, March 2020
To view the exhibition, please click HERE
