Eric Cameron (b. 1935, UK)
Et in Arcadia Id: Sue I, Sue II and Sue III, 1972
Keeping Marlene out of the Picture, 1975

Yet another peculiar example of denial. In ‘Et in Arcadia Id…’ Cameron presents two video feeds – one extreme close-up of nude model’s body, another – camera explorations of the perimeter of the room following the walls etc. Two interesting things are going on here – extreme close-up is too close to get any overview, to satisfy the curiosity; two parallel feeds are separating the ‘foreground’ from its ‘background’, presenting them as equals. This is most relevant to my explorations of the porosity of the frame and reminds some of my own strategies in e.g. ‘Too Little Too Much’ or the ‘Yellow Piece’.

‘Keeping Marlene out of the Picture’ is also playing with subversion of what’s important and what is made accessible – as soon as the model enters the frame, perspective changes to exclude her.

I am still trying to figure out the full depth and meaning of such odd strategies that appeal to me on some intuitive level. Rebellion to the standard expectations is one thing, but there is something more going on. By denying easy access to the supposed subject matter / figure / foreground something else becomes more visible – perhaps the background or the camera intervention itself or the act of subversion. I need to chew on this a bit more to decide whether it all stops at that symbolic gesture of rebellion or equalisation between foreground and background or drawing attention to the person behind the camera, or if these in turn lead to other, more profound aesthetic values or insights.