INTERIORS by JAYNE TAYLOR

Press release:

“NO:ID Gallery hosts this debut solo show for 2009 Photography graduate Jayne Taylor, in association with Photomonth 2009. Interiors is a series of striking portraits captured in stereoscopic 3D.

Jayne Taylor is a visual artist with a special interest in ‘obsolete’ photographic techniques. In her ongoing series Interiors, she revives a spectacular 3D technique last popular in 1950’s America. Her ‘found’ subjects – real people in their own homes – are equally idiosyncratic (and nostalgic). Each has been carefully chosen for their intense affinity with classic 20th century imagery, and their apparent eschewment of current mainstream trends in favour of more lasting and colourful 'vintage' alternatives.

Viewable by only one person at a time (through binocular-like viewers) in exhibition, each little diorama reminds us how magically transporting photography can be when given our full attention. Transgressing time and space, they offer the viewer a brief, personal flight from immediate surroundings to the borderland between vision and imagination.

The portraits themselves are refreshingly playful and have a subtly 'staged' air that heightens the paper-theatre effect of the stereo format. The scenes hover somewhere between image and reality in a way reminiscent of 19th century tableaux vivants (which, in the age of Flickr, is strangely enticing).”

My two penn’orth:

I saw these portraits earlier in the year and not only do they look amazing in 3D, they also demonstrate that amongst all the homogenised grockles there are still people with enough independent savvy to go against the grain; and I’m not just saying that because the above picture features a typical afternoon for Mrs Monkey and her sister at Monkey Mansions. Funny how I’m always the one making the tea when photographers call. Can’t think why.

Interiors by Jayne Taylor is at NO:ID Gallery, 31 Commercial Road, Whitechapel, E1. Friday 13th-Sunday 15th November 2009, 1pm-6pm. Admission free.