At a time when selfies, Instagram and Google Glass ensure that every minute of our everyday life is documented and staged, the artist Roman Moriceau deliberately chooses analog photo processing for his photo series "Untitled (filtered)". A simple plastic bag pulled over the lens of the camera is used as a light filter and creates a veiling opacity. Each work of the series emphasizes the random, almost natural essence of photography. In "Untitled (filtered)" Moriceau focuses on deceleration – and calmly watches the light doing its work…
Isa Maschewski
The artist Roman Moriceau, who lives in Berlin and Paris, examines and subverts our relationship to the individualized consumer world that surrounds us all. He is aware that he is steering his boat through the troubled waters of a society that is in danger of losing itself in the multitude of "I's" (phones, pods, pads...) that are strung together.
At a time when selfies, Instagram and Google Glass ensure that every minute of our daily lives is documented and staged, artist Roman Moriceau deliberately chooses the craft of analog photographic development for his photo series "Untitled (filtered)", a selection of which will be shown at Kunsthaus Jesteburg. A simple plastic bag, threaded over the camera lens, acts as a filter for the light, creating a veiled opacity. Each work in the series underlines the random, almost natural nature of photography. In "Untitled (filtered)", Moriceau emphasizes deceleration rather than a frenetic flow of images - and watches the light work.
Roman Moriceau's work evokes a kind of "boomerang effect", forcing the viewer to go beyond the thoughts and feelings of the first observation. His series of Caribbean palm prints is a striking example. The highly aesthetic, harmonious prints remind the eye of aging sepia photographs. But as soon as the observer learns that the decorative sepia color is due to the fact that the prints were made using heavy oil, or that heavy oil was used as the printing ink, and that it is this same heavy oil that is responsible for the disappearance of the palm tree species represented, the pleasant impression fades to give way to a gentle consternation full of lessons.
