Methods and meaning
February 11, 2022
I was interested to learn more about Bruce Gildern’s body of work as I have a strong interest in his unique and instantly recognisable style and the method in which he creates it.
His work brings to mind Robert Capa’s now famous quote—“If your photographs aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough” as his method literally involves getting in people faces on New York sidewalks to take close up flash photos of them.
His method is extreme. As an article in The Guardian begins: “Bruce Gilden’s mugshots are exactly that: the result of being mugged by his camera.” (1) Through the close proximity of his subjects – faces illuminated from the crowd with a flash gun – and the dynamism of his framing, he creates graphic and arresting photographs.
Gilden comments that for over 33 years, from 1981 to 2014, he walked the same streets again and again (2). What is more remarkable is that he, in fact, began 14 years prior: experimenting, honing his skills and finding his voice as a photographer.
That amounts to nearly 50 years of dedication to a life-long project!
Whilst his method is well-documented, the meaning behind his body of work is articulated to a lesser degree. It seems to me a celebration of the common-man and search for beauty in the seemingly mundane. His portraits seem to be almost caricatures, distilling and exaggerating the personalities of those he photographs. His 2015 book ‘Face’ takes this concept further as he confronts us with a series of almost grotesque portraits, close-up images of people that we usually choose to look away from. I wonder how much of himself he sees in them.
(1) O’HAGAN, Sean. 2015. ‘A latter-day freak show? Bruce Gilden’s extreme portraits are relentlessly cruel’ The Guardian 19 August [online]. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/aug/19/bruce-gilden-face-street-portraits-photographs-book. [accessed 11 February 2022].
(2) 2022. ‘The Art of Street Photography - Bruce Gildern’. Magnum Photos. [Workbook]. Available at: https://www.magnumphotos.com/learn. [accessed 11 February 2022].