‘Llama’ a photograph by Suren Manvelyan
These close photos of animal eyeballs by Suren Manvelyan, a photographer born in Armenia in 1976, examine a world that touches us every day, pulling our focus to the matter of our lives; water, tissue, fibre and the easy wonder we often cultivate in material abstraction. The photographs bridge documentary photography to the art of abstraction, serving as a reminder that abstraction has a starting point always somewhere – in this case the natural world.
Gone is the comfortable place from which the viewer might connect to a photograph, a voyeuristic plane made possible by the distance the camera provides. The experience of viewing the photographs creep to an encounter, a hypnotic staring contest where time is suspended without winner or loser. Here, the experience of viewing each photograph mirrors the medium and process itself, a camera trained without yield on it’s subject.
‘Lark’ a photograph by Suren Manvelyan
The glassy globes are worlds of their own – animals from the land, sky and sea are featured in Mr. Manvelyan’s series ‘Animal Eyes’. The form is familiar – a distinctly bordered convex shape with a bullseye at center – drawing us to ponder what goes on inside this other being, at this meeting. The shiny surfaces and complex colours read like magically perplexing marbles, in the place of the improbably delicate organs we know them to be.
Scientific photography, where the subject matter is portrayed under a macro lens to artistic abstraction, often invites us to view the subject with a sense of impartiality, visually recording a state of being with no obvious narrative. A water droplet appears like an alien landscape, microscopic molecules mirror the patterns of the universe. Scientific photography often removes tension from the relationship between ourselves, the subjective viewers, and the object portrayed in the photograph. Where scientific photographs can create an otherworldly place, the photographs which make up the series ‘Animal Eyes’ act like a stop sign. Their appearance invites a familiar dynamic, eyes locking with the expectation of connection – upon which we are abruptly interrupted, instantly becoming fixed by the startling effect of the photograph, it’s gaze, and our own.
‘Gecko Tokay’ a photograph by Suren Manvelyan
Suren Manvelyan and his work is found at www.SurenManvelyan.com, on Behance and Facebook.
Mr. Manvelyan has shown his work in many esteemed publications, including National Geographic. He plays five instruments including guitar, cello and piano, and holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics, with a speciality in Quantam Chaos.
‘Cow’ a photograph by Suren Manvelyan
‘Hippo’ a photograph by Suren Manvelyan
‘Gecko Eublepharis’ a photograph by Suren Manvelyan
via, with thanks.
Britt Germann 