Aqueous II – Mark Mawson
The art of photography has expanded so much that artists begin to experiment new things and new ways of creating life that would then be captured in snapshots. I do not refer here to digital art and digital experiments, but on real experiments whose results are then photographed and then displayed for everyone to see and interpret them. This new form of photography from experiment conveys a very simple message: art can be created and can take life from any thing the human mind can discover. However, the pictures that convey this message are not sharp snapshots of sharp reality.
These experiments I am talking about are done by photographer Mark Mawson. His photographs are unique and clear. When I stated earlier that they are not sharp, I did not intend to say that they are blurred, but that they do not represent clear forms. When watching photographs of Mark Mawson’s portfolios, especially those from Smoke, Aqueous and Aqueous II people cannot all say that this is a flower and this is a volcano, but they ca perceive different other forms i his pictures. Is like watching and interpreting clouds, just that the many colors used create more interpretations.
In Aqueous II, one of the most recent works of Mark Mawson, the experiment is conducted in a tank full of water. Here the photographer spills drops o paint and then very quickly takes snapshots of what is being created. In order for the creations to be made and to be different and original, he drops in the water more or less paint, the density being the one that gives shape and design in the water. At the same time it is important to catch the images very fast, as the shapes do not take long until they vanish.
His work was appreciated by many and the fact that it can be interpreted in various ways, without considering the artist in the interpretation of a photograph or another, leaves room for everybody to state their opinion and to be accepted by the others. In fact, I believe that this is one of the purposes Mark Mawson has in mind. The photographer has experimented a lot in the field of photography, as he worked at The Times, The Daily Mail and The Sunday Times, for magazines and advertising agencies. But because he wanted to be more creative he then tried and specialized himself in taking pictures of people underwater. In fact, his Underwater pictures combine reality and fantasy in a way that few photographers can do it.
Mark Mawson‘s experiments in the field of photography are quite amazing and they are works of unlimited imagination. It is the imagination of the artist which gives them body, but it is the viewers’ imagination to say what the body represents. This indirect communication between the artist and viewer is even more emphasized in Mark’s creations than in traditional works of art and makes photography go to higher levels and impose higher standards for the future photographs.11
