Book Review: Still Fantasy by Absalon Kirkeby
Still Fantasy by Absalon Kirkeby ©
Written by Melia Chendo
In Still Fantasy, natural realities are questioned by Absalon Kirkeby’s surreal manipulation of color, space and perspective. Kirkeby captures a dreamlike sense of various scenes through this manipulation, ranging from mundane subjects to enigmatic frames of unearthly environments. He processes his photos digitally, allowing him to form distinct, artificial contact with contemporary spaces. Kirkeby immerses the viewer in his own unique composition of fluorescence as refractions of light and vibrant colors penetrate the world he has created in his images.
Still Fantasy by Absalon Kirkeby ©
Still Fantasy by Absalon Kirkeby ©
Palpable tension arises from the photographs’ abstraction and creates a silence the viewer is repeatedly confronted with. As they attempt to decipher and separate ordinary objects from the surreal, it becomes clear that they’re navigating an eerie, dystopian environment riddled with unanswered questions. While some of the images are dull and quiet, others are overwhelmed with light and noise, and the time and setting is unclear. This contrast emphasizes the presence of the unnatural throughout the book and challenges the viewer to examine familiarity with a critical eye.
Still Fantasy by Absalon Kirkeby ©
For example, the first two images of the book – which include digitally-processed light beams interrupting space – call attention to the organic tone of the shadow penetrating image’s frame beneath them. At the same time, the viewer’s assumptions of what forms this shadow – and what composes the area around it – is questioned by Kirkeby’s synthetic representation of materiality. All aspects of Kirkeby’s recurrent juxtapositions narrow the gaps between conflicting realities and amplify the silence of the unheard: the volume of our set beliefs.
Still Fantasy by Absalon Kirkeby ©
Throughout Still Fantasy, perspective is constructed by lines, beams of light and coloring that becomes unusually tactile. Absalon Kirkeby’s digital work engages the viewer with a new sense of the ordinary while making textures accessible and tangible. The artificial tone of the work’s body penetrates the environments photographed throughout; everything feels mechanical, including the softness of the earth’s sand and snow, and the darkness of shadowed tunnels and construction sites. The presence of industrial and urban space is prevalent as various machines appear in different places throughout the book. Intricate patterns of lines, color, and shape that seem to be digitally designed to interact with the physicality of living bodies framed in machine parts and against different backgrounds. Most of the images and scenes Kirkeby creates are imperceptible. Movement and figures are warped in images that look almost like radiographs, and the truth within the subject of these frames becomes obstructed by layers of overexposed tones and contrast.
