Photograph by Rick Guest. Image courtesy of East Photographic.
Light is consistently the most intentional and care-given aspect of each photograph that British photographer Rick Guest takes. Car manufacturers like Bentley and Ferrari have hired Guest to photograph their shiniest new models within arrays of beams and grids of colored light. Canon practically hires him just to experiment with new methods using their products, like for his recent shots of seemingly holographic planes of light suspended within a empty warehouse.
Even Guest’s portraits show a conscious regard for how light and shadows hit their subjects; photos he took of professional ballet dancers for his series “Language of the Soul” experiment with varied light sources that, according to the series’ description, are meant to “enhance each dancer’s power and beauty, both physical and emotional.”
Therefore it’s no surprise that the following brief description accompanies Guest’s most recent series “Americana:” “California light, there’s nothing like it. These were all decisive moments whilst adrift in a sea of indecision.” Viewers don’t need to know anything but these two sentences to understand the work and its importance. What struck Guest about California as the Brit traveled through the state was its unique light; using carefully crafted technique, developed over his decades-long career, Guest astutely presents to the viewer exactly what he saw basked in that golden light that shines down on the Golden State.
In one of the most striking photos of the series, an orange horse stands against a backdrop – possibly a water tank – whose upper half is painted almost the same orange color as the horse’s hide. The slightly off-kilter composition puts these colors, and their objects, situated in muted natural light yet illuminated by their own colors, in focus; cut off are the horse’s hooves and its backside, but that doesn’t seem to matter. What matters is that the ground is also almost as orange as the horse, and that the sparse green weeds growing out of it and the beige stucco house in the background diversify the image just enough for it to be enjoyably and magnificently orange.
What isn’t seeped in orange has a distinct red tint or features a richly blue sky. It’s a departure for Guest, whose work can almost always be described as sleek. He’s left the blank canvas of a studio to explore unfamiliar terrain, to photograph less intentionally crafted subjects than in any other personal photo series Guest has previously completed.
Photograph by Rick Guest. Image courtesy of East Photographic.
“Americana” seems to have been inspired by the new style of documentary photography practiced primarily by twenty-somethings who started out by shooting on their parents’ 1980s film cameras and attempt to bring that antiquated style to their digital work. The series borrows the oversaturation and fascination with that which is old and decrepit that this era’s up-and-comers like Harley Weir have perfected. Whether or not that inspiration was conscious remains to be known.
In this respect, what Guest has done is not as original as it may seem in contrast to his own body of work. Many photographers have captured the landscape of the American West or perfected the make-old-look-new method that Guest tests out here. But what is valuable is the way Guest takes these overused concepts and, by filtering them through his own British sensibilities and finely honed craft, creates images that can feel fresh and new – especially in their treatment of light. The crispness of his GQ cover portraits have given way to a more natural study of the element.
The few people featured in “Americana” act as purveyors of those bright colors and as momentary breaks from the largely inanimate focus. To a born-and-bred Brit, these beat-up pickup trucks, desert plains, and industrial landscapes probably struck the photographer as foreign, like the realization of a myth featured in American movies set in the West (or at least the West that low- and middle-class Americans know well).
This California scenery must have been as refreshing to Guest as this series is to people familiar with the more sterile work he usually churns out. “Americana” serves to reassure viewers that Guest isn’t solely an artist trained to serve the advertising world, but that he has a more original viewpoint than those commissioned projects allow. It may even prove that this relatively old dog has begun to learn some new aesthetic tricks.
Photograph by Rick Guest. Image courtesy of East Photographic.
589 Comments
Mai, I really liked your description and analysis of this photograph collection, especially with regard to the artist’s previous work. It struck me that Guest embodies a binary that has been forming in the past weeks in class between “corporate” and various descriptors. Is his departure from sleek magazine covers somehow indicative of his work reaching higher aesthetic heights? Food for thought.
An idea for a deeper level of analysis: What questions is Guest trying to ask or answer with this photo series? I’m from California, and to be honest I was a bit uncomfortable looking at a few of his highly aestheticized photographs of poverty and horrible drought. At the end of the day, his using these “exotic” images for no apparent reason other than to further his career still felt very “corporate” to me. What do you think his goals were?
Mai, your detailed description and analysis of Guest’s photograph collection is insightful, especially in the context of his previous work. The “binary” between ‘corporate’ and various descriptors you highlight is an interesting observation that sparks discussion about artistic evolution and perception.
It’s certainly thought-provoking to consider whether Guest’s departure from a sleek aesthetic signifies a pursuit of “higher aesthetic heights” or something else entirely. Perhaps exploring the artist’s own statements or critical interpretations of this shift could shed light on his intentions.
To delve deeper, you raise a critical question: what are Guest’s goals and underlying messages in this series? While some might find the aestheticization of sensitive subjects like poverty and drought uncomfortable, exploring Guest’s motivations and potential interpretations is crucial for a nuanced understanding of the work.
Perhaps Guest aims to spark conversation about these critical issues by presenting them through a distinctive aesthetic lens. Alternatively, as you mentioned, the commercial viability of these images cannot be entirely disregarded.
Engaging with these complexities and considering alternative perspectives would further enrich your analysis. You could explore comparative works that deal with similar themes or research the artist’s background and artistic trajectory to gain a more comprehensive understanding of his creative choices.
Overall, your comment offers a thoughtful analysis and raises important questions about artistic intent, interpretation, and social responsibility. It paves the way for a richer discussion about Guest’s work and its potential impact.
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This was very well done. Not only do I think I know more about the “Americana” series, this was informative on a number of different levels. I most enjoyed the background you provided on Rick Guest’s work. I think criticism is most valuable in context, and your description of how this fits his mold and how it departs from his usual photography was very enlightening. Additionally, I think your descriptions of individual pieces were not too wordy, but still painted a complete picture of the work. Great job!
Mai,
One thing that your essay made me consider is that light is never light! Which is to say that questions of light and how we see it, experience it, feel it is in fact quite “heavy,” quite serious, quite worthy of sustained attention and analysis. Well, this has always been the case with painting and other modes of visual art, but photography has its own particular heavy interest in light. Guest’s work seems to fit into this long-running focus as he creates work at the place where fashion meets art. Perhaps light is a medium that allows this interplay between two different but related worlds to come together.
The turn to California is interesting, as you begin to problematize Guest’s interest in the region’s light. I wonder, as Linnea and Joe suggest, if you might keep teasing out this interest (obsession?) of Guest’s with California’s light in particular: how does it relate to what we might call his sociological interest in California. As you note there is his romanticization/exoticization of the American West at work here. What else?
Prof. Kramer
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