honorable mention
Anna Agoston united statesPhoto © Anna Agoston
title
Untitled #152
This photograph is part of my ongoing master series of black-and-white macro photographs of living plant elements. The photograph was taken in nature. The subject is small, inconsequential and often not noticed or seen, but unique and precious.
The series is abstract in that there is a departure from reality. The black-and-white, the macro lens, the emphasis on symmetry and on composition: these have the power to distill certain aspects of the subjects.
Although the medium is photography, I think of my work as sculpture. There is an emphasis on the architecture, form and texture of the plant. Furthermore I stress what the subject may evoke in the viewer.
The photographic process consists in chiseling away at reality. I remove color, context… I frame, determine a plane of focus and define details. I work until I give my feelings form. In doing so I aim to expose what I feel is the essence of my subject.
I have no wish to educate or impose my own thoughts on viewers, but rather I want them to see and feel things independently. For this reason my work is untitled.
The image itself - the larger-than-life scale of the subject, the attention to detail, the way the image evokes certain behaviors - has the power to seize the attention of the viewer, and focus it. My artwork invites contemplation.
In October 2013, Anna made her lifelong passion, fine art photography her main professional occupation. Since January 2014, her work has been included in fourteen juried group exhibitions, in ten different states. One of her pictures is now a part of the Permanent Collection at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Indiana. She has received three international awards, and has been published online several times. Her self-published books "Untitled Vol.1" and "Untitled Vol.2" were recently added to the library at the Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Also concerning her book, Anna was honored to receive an email on May 22nd 2014 from the internationally renowned architect and recipient of the 2013 Pritzker architecture prize Mr. Toyo Ito. In his email Toyo Ito writes "Pictures in your book are so beautiful that they give me design inspiration.”
Anna challenges the concept of aesthetics, by making art that is intended to invite contemplation. Her artwork consists of black-and-white macro photographs of living plant elements found in nature.
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entry description
This photograph is part of my ongoing master series of black-and-white macro photographs of living plant elements. The photograph was taken in nature. The subject is small, inconsequential and often not noticed or seen, but unique and precious.
The series is abstract in that there is a departure from reality. The black-and-white, the macro lens, the emphasis on symmetry and on composition: these have the power to distill certain aspects of the subjects.
Although the medium is photography, I think of my work as sculpture. There is an emphasis on the architecture, form and texture of the plant. Furthermore I stress what the subject may evoke in the viewer.
The photographic process consists in chiseling away at reality. I remove color, context… I frame, determine a plane of focus and define details. I work until I give my feelings form. In doing so I aim to expose what I feel is the essence of my subject.
I have no wish to educate or impose my own thoughts on viewers, but rather I want them to see and feel things independently. For this reason my work is untitled.
The image itself - the larger-than-life scale of the subject, the attention to detail, the way the image evokes certain behaviors - has the power to seize the attention of the viewer, and focus it. My artwork invites contemplation.
about the photographer
Anna Agoston is an award-winning contemporary artist whose medium is photography. A resident of Brooklyn, New York, Anna was born and raised in Paris, France. Always passionate about art, she qualified as an architect DPLG (government-certification) at the Ecole d'Architecture Paris Malaquais, and went on to earn the M.Arch.II degree in architecture at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. There, she studied fine art photography under Professor Jim Dow of the Department of Visual and Environmental studies, and photographed her first series, “Dorm.”In October 2013, Anna made her lifelong passion, fine art photography her main professional occupation. Since January 2014, her work has been included in fourteen juried group exhibitions, in ten different states. One of her pictures is now a part of the Permanent Collection at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Indiana. She has received three international awards, and has been published online several times. Her self-published books "Untitled Vol.1" and "Untitled Vol.2" were recently added to the library at the Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Also concerning her book, Anna was honored to receive an email on May 22nd 2014 from the internationally renowned architect and recipient of the 2013 Pritzker architecture prize Mr. Toyo Ito. In his email Toyo Ito writes "Pictures in your book are so beautiful that they give me design inspiration.”
Anna challenges the concept of aesthetics, by making art that is intended to invite contemplation. Her artwork consists of black-and-white macro photographs of living plant elements found in nature.
back to gallery