Arnatt studied painting at Oxford and then art at the Royal Academy Schools (Keith Arnatt, n.d.).  His interests lay in conceptual art; particularly the reductionist element of that movement and “in relating the presentation of art objects to the contexts of their viewing in a way that sought to activate those contexts.” (ibid.).

Reductionism

This concept is something that I too have found increasing interest in.  Objects that by themselves do not necessarily carry a great deal of interest can take on very different meanings and that is something I found can provoke a viewer’s thoughts far beyond anything that can be shown in the image itself.  

Looking at some of Arnatt’s collections on his website (Keith Arnatt Estate, n.d.), my observation is that some of his collections do seek to operate in this way in a single image whilst others use the collection itself as a way of presenting and broadening the context.  

Figure 1 shows a screenshot taken from said website which shows some of the images from his Pet Shops collection (Keith Arnatt Estate | works | Pet Shops, 1990, colour photographs, selection, 1990).

What is clear to me from these images is the power of the set, and how the reductionist nature of the images is enhanced by that set.  Each image is simply an image of an object sold in the pet shop.  There is nothing particularly special about an image of a tin of dog food for example.  But, look at the set as a whole and I start to see a description of how we as humans relate to our pets.  I see food, treats, health tablets, toys, treatments, feeders, de-odourises.  By bringing these images together as a set in this way, the images seem to stop being about the images themselves, and instead represent the actions that the objects are used for; this is quite a transformation and tells a story in its own right. 

I see a similar effect from Arnatt’s series ‘Painters Cans’ (Arnatt, 1990), Figure 2 shows a screenshot again from Arnatt’s website.  As a set, this transformation from the object to what the object represents happens again.  When looking at these images I find myself looking at the way the paint is running in different ways down the outside of each can, and then start to think about the character of the painter that used that can; the user of the red paint was considerably less careful than that of the white gloss it would seem.

Wider Contexts

Other series by Arnatt are less reductionist in style and instead objects are captured in their settings, and the viewer is prompted to look at the relationship between the object and its surroundings.  It is Arnatt’s series “Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty” that prompted me to research.  Figure 3 is an example from the series.  In this series,  “Arnatt addresses what he characterised as the ‘conjunction of beauty and banality.  The photographs in the series were taken across England in areas classified for their natural beauty. However, Arnatt presents not just untouched beauty but also the intrusion of man, including vehicles, detritus and abandoned objects.” (A.O.N.B (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) – Keith Arnatt – Key Works. An overview of British Photography – Hyman Collection – British Photography, 2020).

This is a topic that interests me a lot, it was actually the subject of my Assignment 5 for the ‘Expressing your View’ module of this course (Wilkinson, 2017).  Looking at that assignment now, I am still pleased with it, but I can see plenty of things that I would change in terms of framing of the images. But, the biggest difference between my work and Arnatt’s (apart from the general quality of the images) is the intent.  Arnatt’s (satirical) intent is expressed entirely in the title of the collection – Area of Outstanding Beauty, it sums up that contrast between beauty and banality as soon as one sees any one of the images, and this is reinforced as every image in the set is viewed.  My images do not do that, they are related to man’s intrusion into the countryside but one would not know this from a single image or from the title of the collection.  Having decided on the title of the set, which is also the intent (clearly this could be the other way round), I think the sense of purpose then helps source and capture all of the images. Figure 4 is another example that by itself, or without the context of the collection’s title, one might wonder at the worth of the image. 

Learnings and Reflection

• I have not thought that much about reductionism prior to this piece of research.  Learning how the technique can be used within a set of images interests me very much.  If I applied that learning to Assignment 4 in particular, I could create a totally reimagined assignment replacing each one of my chosen images with a reductionist approach to the same message.  A toilet roll, a vitamin tablet, a COVID antibody test, a plant pot, an alarm clock turned off, etc.  Each image by itself would not be that appealing, but as a set of images, I think it would be an interesting piece of work – I’m so taken with that idea that if I had not already shot my assignment 5, I might have done it for that assignment, and may still shoot it anyway.

• From Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, I can once again see the power of the set, and the power of being clear in the intent of the set.  Relating this to my own photography, I think the important step is to get those clear before even envisioning any of the images themselves.  I would say that quite often I have done this in reverse, captured an image because it looks nice or is interesting for some reason that I am not too sure of, and then attempted to expand this into a set.  That is a process that works for ad-hoc images, but not for creating clarity and real purpose for a set of images.  The learning in summary is to think first and act second.

Bibliography

En.wikipedia.org. n.d. Keith Arnatt. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Arnatt> [Accessed 07 August 2020].

Keitharnatt.com. n.d. Keith Arnatt Estate. [online] Available at: <http://www.keitharnatt.com/index.html> [Accessed 28 August 2020].

Keitharnatt.com. 1990. Keith Arnatt Estate | Works | Pet Shops, 1990, Colour Photographs, Selection. [online] Available at: <http://www.keitharnatt.com/works/w70.html> [Accessed 07 August 2020].

Arnatt, K., 1990. Keith Arnatt Estate | Works | Painter’s Cans, 1990, Colour Photographs, Selection. [online] Keitharnatt.com. Available at: <http://www.keitharnatt.com/works/w66.html> [Accessed 07 August 2020].

Britishphotography.org. 2020. A.O.N.B (Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty) – Keith Arnatt – Key Works. An Overview Of British Photography – Hyman Collection – British Photography. [online] Available at: <http://www.britishphotography.org/online-exhibitions/1755/10341/key-works-an-overview-of-british-photography-aonb-area-of-outstanding-natural-beauty?r=online-exhibitions/1755/key-works-an-overview-of-british-photography> [Accessed 07 August 2020].

Wilkinson, A., 2017. Assignment 5: Rework Post Tutor Feedback – Tony’s EYV Learning Blog. [online] Eyv.tonys-view.com. Available at: <http://eyv.tonys-view.com/assignment-5-rework-post-tutor-feedback/> [Accessed 07 August 2020].

Figures 

Figure 1. Keitharnatt.com. 1990. Keith Arnatt Estate | Works | Pet Shops, 1990, Colour Photographs, Selection. [image] Available at: <http://www.keitharnatt.com/works/w70.html> [Accessed 07 August 2020].

Figure 2. Arnatt, K., 1990. Keith Arnatt Estate | Works | Painter’s Cans, 1990, Colour Photographs, Selection. [image] Keitharnatt.com. Available at: <http://www.keitharnatt.com/works/w66.html> [Accessed 07 August 2020].

Figure 3. Arnatt, K., 1982. Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty. [image] Available at: <http://www.britishphotography.org/online-exhibitions/1755/10341/key-works-an-overview-of-british-photography-aonb-area-of-outstanding-natural-beauty?r=online-exhibitions/1755/key-works-an-overview-of-british-photography> [Accessed 07 August 2020].

Figure 4. Arnatt, K., 1982. Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty – Scowles Only. [image] Available at: <https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/arnatt-a-o-n-b-area-of-outstanding-natural-beauty-t13139> [Accessed 07 August 2020].