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Reimagining Burden
Through his work, photographer Oskar Gyllensward likes to position the purpose of the art form as a place to “entertain, to inspire thought and transfer knowledge.”
This Man About Town fashion editorial is heavily inspired by a few works, mainly from the 70s, by the late sculptor, performance and installation artist Chris Burden.
In Gyllensward’s choice words, here’s how a creative vision manifested itself into a work of photographic art.
The love for Chris Burden’s artwork
The entertainment value in the surprise element and the questions posed.
Whether the questions raised by an artwork are provocative or not, a work of art demands us to challenge the perception of the world around us as well as ourselves. Burden’s art also often included shock value and a level of self harm.The obvious question is “why?”, leading on to a 1000 more questions in different directions. I personally find that “modern art” can be both amusing in it’s absurdity at the same time as I enjoy the questions it raises within me. And when it comes to Chris Burden, he ticks both boxes.
The overriding theme
The 1970s was a nice decade for fashion so we wanted to give a bit more depth to a 70s inspired fashion story, and it turned out as an homage to Chris Burden. Hopefully it can inspire someone to not only buy clothes but to take more of an interest in art. The threshold can be seen as high, but it doesn’t have to be.
Black and white and colour photography
I’m always a fan of mixing black and white with colour shots and different crops as it makes the story more dynamic. For this shoot it also made sense to give it a retro touch so I shot a mix of digital and analogue medium format cameras.
Model behaviour
It’s not always easy to say exactly what you’re looking for in a model, but you know it when you see them. Of course the length of Doeke’s hair worked well with the ’70s idea, but there’s more to it than that. How we as humans “learn to see” from day to day is an interesting topic, especially for us working with both trends and visual media.
’70s chic styling
The styling is inspired by the original characters cast for Chris Burden’s art and translates to a contemporary slightly modern vibe.
Hairstyles of the time
I like how they’re often natural and soft yet have that element of rebellion against society.