Frozen Foods, Irving Penn, 1977
This work was controversial when it was first exhibited and remains controversial today. Why? (or why not?) evaluate it, discuss it.
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Its controversial photo because does food really need to be froozen? Looking at the food, its making frozen food look expired and not edible
ReplyDelete-Samantha P
I agree with Samantha, all the foods that are frozen in the photo are healthy foods (asparagus, green bean) yet they are portrayed as being old and unhealthy looking. I think Irving took away the beauty of the foods and this may have made a few people angry.
ReplyDeleteI think it is controversial because it is not your usual still life. We are used to seeing fresh fruit or vegetables in bowls sitting on a table and in this photo the fruits and vegetables are frozen in cubes stacked on top of each other. I think this photo has made an impact on still life photography.
ReplyDelete^ Daniella
ReplyDeletei agree with daniella, i think that fact that this is so different from what people are expecting to see that they were unprepared to deal with it so some liked it and others didn’t. also, the fruits and vegetables are frozen in cubes when we are used to seeing round, loose objects rather then tightly packed conforming to the photographers needs
ReplyDeleteSarah J
This picture is unique. It stands out with its different colours and shapes and types of food. It is placed in different situations to grab your eye and intrigue you more. I think this artist was trying to do something different and chose to photograph something we see all day and crave and have a natural need for.
ReplyDeleteI think this photo is very interesting. Fruits and vegetables usually grow free and wild and are nurtured by sunlight and warm. Irving puts them in an environment completely different to that as they are frozen and stuck in a cube. I agree with Cole when he says Irving takes the beauty out of the food.
ReplyDeleteMatt Smith
I agree with cole, that he took away the beauty of the food.
ReplyDeleteThey are all dull colours and the picture isn't very memorable.
Its rather interesting though, because you have never seen the food in this form... it gives you a different way of looking at it.
Becca Samsworth
Irving Penn is known as an American fashion photographer, and portraiture. I find that it is very interesting how this photograph is clearly a still life of frozen fruit, but if looked at a with a different point of view can be closely related to his other more famous works. Irving Penn is known as one of the first photographers to take posed photographs of subjects over a simple grey or white backdrops. This trait has clearly been brought into his still life work. I believe that Irving Penn is trying to make the fruit look as if it were one of his former fashion subjects. He is trying to bring the beauty out in an eye catching way that will be both memorable and mesmerizing.
ReplyDeleteI like what matt has said. But i think in the new environment that they are in, the solid frozen environment is a beautiful place. they are enriched with colour and flavor when they are frozen. The beauty of the colors come from the fashion background of the artist.
ReplyDeleteDerek Z
Being honest, I’m not a fan of this image. I want more light, colour and warmth but obviously that’s what he’s trying to take from the image itself. He leaves our memories of fresh summer produce frozen and crystallized in a very commercial way. Like TV dinners; gray, square and cold.
ReplyDelete-Megan Mitchell
This photograph is contrived, manufactured, and aged. Its the complete opposite of what Megan want's above. In my opinion, I feel like he's taking the fruit/vegetables through different seasons. After just being in summer/fall with colour and their real formation, they are now frozen..in winter.
ReplyDelete- Julia El-Safty
I think this photograph is also a jab at the companies that produce fruits and vegetables. The photo is taken on a set with great lighting and a white background much like a ad for fruits and a vegetables would be taken on. However, Irving is exposing the truth behind a lot of companies by showing the fruit and vegetables the way they are packaged, frozen and dried.
ReplyDeleteMatt Smith.
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ReplyDeleteThe fruit was clearly frozen while in its freshest, most "beautiful" state... eventually it will do what fruit always does, shrivel and die. Maybe this photo is representational of the phrase "nothing gold can stay." I think this photo represents a desperate attempt to keep something beautiful, and being afraid of change.
ReplyDeleteEllen Smith
I agree with Ellen when she says that it's a representation of the "nothing gold can stay". I believe that many of the things that we can conceive as being naturally beautiful can be shockingly not. Thse vegetable used to be beautiful, however not they look old, dark and gross.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to look at this photograph and find a deeper meaning within. When I look at this photograph, all I can think back to is the reasoning behind why the photograph was taken. Irving Penn has never made it public that his photographs have ever been taken with a deep, emotional meaning. Rather, he IS known to take photographs of clothing and fashion, where the main goal of the photograph is to set it apart stylistically. This is what I see when I look at this photograph, a unique and stylistically set photograph that will catch the interest of the viewer, nothing more.
ReplyDeleteI see a couple things when I look at this photo. The way the blocks are stacked looks like the building blocks of life, as though they are all working up to a healthy meal. They also remind me of rice krispies, a food that has been changed and created in order to be yummy. That's about all I see. Just food, like I would find it in my freezer every day.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIrving was known as a fashin photographer. I believe that people made this controversial because it was something different, and it was a different piece of work. i agree with kristen when she says that it is hard to find a deeper meaning of this photo, because.. it is frozen food.
ReplyDeleteChelsea Knobbs
Personally, I am not a fan of this photograph. I don't like how the foods are in a confined space, and are dull colours. This picture isn't very exciting to look at, and I can't help but wonder why the Irving Pen would take something like this.
ReplyDeleteBecca Samsworth
Becca, maybe by confining foods that would normally grow in an open environment with excess room Penn is trying to show how humans change the nature of everything we touch, to something completely different in order to fulfill our needs.
ReplyDeleteI agree with matt that the photo is a jab at food companies. I think it is showing that the companies are taking away healthy foods and packaging and freezing them to something that is not portrayed as a nice healthy fruit or vegeatable.
ReplyDeleteI agree with ellen's comment. i think it shows the desire to keep the food beautiful, even after change and process
ReplyDeletei agree with what Alexa had said before about the fruit looking like the building blocks of life,and how they are just naturaly in our lives every day and that realates with the froozen fruits.
ReplyDeleteThis photograph of consumer durables and perishables have the dignified attention of the viewer. He is trying to bring out the beauty in this still life. This picture is very different from his other works as a fashion photographer, which makes it so controversial. Yet he still uses his skills through fashion photography to bring out the colours and shapes of the food.
ReplyDeletei agree with haleys previous comment. i feel the picture dipicts the beauty of still life.
ReplyDelete-willem
i feel like the photo shows how man can turn the most basic things of nature and massproduce them and re-create them into something so fake it is hardley reconisable.
ReplyDelete-willem
When I first witnessed this photo it made me question its purpose. Something as abstract and simple as frozen fruit must have some sort of deep and complex meaning but that made me think that the photo may not have any meaning. Maybe Irving simply wanted the viewer to interpret the photo in their own way and make it symbolize whatever they wanted whether it be evil food companies or a bad year for fruit. Instead of Irving giving the photo an obvious intention he forced the viewer to think hard about what it may mean and from what I have seen, he was very successful.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what cole said about how Irving took away the beauty out of the fruits, by making them square and frozen. We are not used to seeing them this way. we are used to seeing it warmer(round and fresh).
ReplyDeleteIvring puts the frozen fruits and vegetables in an environment that makes it look like it is for an advertisment.(they dont look edible).
-Jessica Ranney
i agree with ollie, i think that the meaning of the picture is what ever you want it to be, and Irving makes people think by making his picture so different from what we see every day
ReplyDeleteSarah J
The photo is obvious hard to interpret which is why the meaning maybe metaphorical such as the fruit blocks might be a foundation for something important.
ReplyDeleteI like how the photo is abstract, but I do not like that there is no apparent meaning in the photo itself. Looking at all the other photos that Irving took, they were much different and sent out a clearer message. Maybe the photo is stating that things aren't as natural anymore. I think it represents the altercations of the food we eat.
ReplyDeleteChelsea Knobbs
Irving started as a fashion photographer. What made her take and produce this photo?
ReplyDeleteDerek Z
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ReplyDeleteMaybe this photo is poking fun at the models Irving sees day to day during various fashion shoots. He could be trying to say that lots of models are boring and lifeless in photographs, like frozen vegetables. Or that even frozen vegetables are capable of looking glamorous.
ReplyDeleteEllen Smith
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ReplyDeleteI think he is trying to show, we are buying foods from around the world. We are freezing them and bringing them to other countries, which is killing the local farms. The things in the picture I am pretty sure they could be grown in your own backyard, but it’s just cheaper to buy them from another country.
ReplyDeleteZackory DiCaro
In my personal opinion, i think that the main idea is that of time and how it can't be frozen. We can try to make it stay still, but life moves on and things still happen. The vegetable represent that by being frozen, however they will still age and they won't be good when they thaw.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed how Ellen pointed out how in both fashion photography and still life, things can be either brought to life or frozen in the lens of a camera. I am quite sure most people agree that moments caught on camera are frozen and preserved to be enjoyed later, very similar to frozen fruits.
ReplyDelete-megan mitchell
In my opinion,I like how this picture looks abstract, but I also don't like how the food looks very crushed together. I would have enjoyed this photo more if the food wasn't frozen and didn't look as dull.
ReplyDeleteRachel Obuch
I agree with Ellen's point of the photograph being desperate, to keep something beautiful, and being afriad of change.
ReplyDelete- Julia El-Safty
Irving Penn (RIP) is a photography GOD.
ReplyDeleteThis particular image is perhaps more controversial today because of his death, once bright young and full of life he has been "frozen" by death and we can only remember him as what he once was.
-Tamyca Dorrington
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