Jerry Uelsmann - Interpretation

Interpretation

Uelsmann's photographs are not meant to depict a familiar place, but rather allow the viewer to transcend the frames and take them on a journey through the unfathomable. Through the picturesque representations of his subject matter, this becomes possible. Like the Pictorialist movement in the twentieth century, Uelsmann's work played on big ideas, and because those ideas are so vague, the artist did not allow room for literal interpretation of his work, but rather left the interpretation to the subjective. Uelsmann believes that his work touches the viewer on a personal level and communicates his emotion better through the unimaginable settings that he creates..

Though the initial reception of his images were less than accepting, the uniqueness of his technique and composition soon became what critiques came to love in his work. During the mid-twentieth century, photographs were seen as a documentation of the concrete. Obvious conflicts would come to light when Uelsmann presented his work, merely because he chose the photographic medium as his mode of communication. The curator who asked Uelsmann to come to the Museum of Modern Art went out on a limb asking him to exhibit his work. Luckily for Jerry, the MoMA is renowned for showing the avant-garde, taking pride in helping to define modern art.

Formally, Uelsmann composes his work in black and white, with a vast complement of grays and mid-tones throughout. One of the defining characteristics of his work, however, is the stark contrasts seen throughout Uelsmann's body of work. He contrasts the organic with the artificial in almost all of his work, and frequently includes the use of more than one focal point in his work. Placing eyes on walls, windows on trees, and shrubbery on the artificial are common elements within his work.