i had an easy day today recovering from a busy bank hoilday weekend. i was in london for a meeting but then visited a couple of photography exhibitions which are both brilliant…

gilbert garcin started taking photos aged 65 which in itself is pretty cool and is now exhibiting aged 80! he creates these wacky surreal collage photos. apparently he makes them blue peter style by cutting figures out and pasting them on backgrounds and projecting slides. and you can tell in some of the photos but it really adds to the charm! they are quirky and funny, visual gags really. well worth a visit at hoopers gallery. there are a few examples here. i only found out about it via friends at LIP – for some reason it’s not listed in timeout

then at mason’s yard white cube gregory crewdson has an exhibition. he was featured on the photography series a while back on tv which i’ve forgotten the name of. he bascially constructs elaborate expensive scenes that are more like a film set with lighting and actors and so on. and then the prints are printed on a large scale (1.5 by 2m or something like that).  the exhibition must have about 20 of these photos and they are pretty compelling. a lot are of small town america, and somehow have a bleakness about them.

both of these artists are not just taking photographs – lots of manipulation involved. one makes you feel i might try that, and the other is on a scale out of my league!