Dimensions: support: 762 x 914 mm
Copyright: © Phil Collins, courtesy Kerlin Gallery, Dublin | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: This is "Bojan" by Phil Collins. It's part of the Tate Collection and the support measures 762 by 914 mm. The blurry foreground makes the figure in the background feel distant. What compositional elements stand out to you? Curator: The foreground's out-of-focus blades of grass create a textural contrast with the smooth skin and defined edges of the eyeglasses. This juxtaposition draws attention to the picture plane itself. Note also the sharp angles and lines of the eyeglasses, in contrast to the roundness of the face and head. Editor: That's interesting, I hadn't noticed those geometric contrasts. So, by focusing on the visual language, we can find meaning in the arrangement and composition. Curator: Precisely. It’s in these formal relationships where the work truly speaks.
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This is one of a series of five portraits of young people living in Belgrade. The photographs were taken approximately eight months after the democratic revolution of 5th October 2000, when mass demonstrations in Belgrade and other Serbian cities overthrew the regime of communist leader Slobodan Milosovic (born 1941). Collins photographed individuals he knew well, focusing on close-up and sometimes partial views of their faces as they lay on grass, possibly in a park. In some images, long blades of grass partly obscure the subjects’ faces, casting dark shadows in the bright sunlight. In others, the subject is further away and appears more autonomous from the viewer. The photographs feature rich, saturated colour and a sensual atmosphere created by the juxtaposition of sun-drenched skin in the sun on the grass and the close proximity of a face-to-face encounter. The romantic theme of youth coupled with nature is undercut by the disenchanted gaze of the subjects who, although pictured looking back at the viewer, appear distant and lost in their own thoughts. In this image, Bojan’s eyes are screwed up against the sun shining directly on his face, his gaze intense but guarded and not inviting contact. His steel-rimmed spectacles, dark moustache and goatee beard could belong to any young man in the western world.
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