STUART SPENCE: YIELD
STUART SPENCE
For professional photographers, being in focus is probably the key technical obsession, but advertising and fashion photographer Stuart Spence has found a new creative freedom in what he calls “hints and blurs”. A superb portfolio of these visually intriguing images has recently been self-published by Stu in a new book he’s called YIELD.
After a long career that started in the darkroom and has included fashion, music and editorial work, Stu Spence has become what he calls a “reportage photo artist”. He’s moved from the literal to the instinctual, creating images that ask many questions… and often answer none. A new book of this work provides plenty to keep viewers guessing.
Back in early 2018, when he was interviewed for ProPhoto by Bruce Usher, Stuart Spence talked about his move into what could loosely be described as fine-art photography. He was, however, reluctant to call himself a fine-art photographer and thought he was better served calling “a spade a spade, and referring to myself simply as a reportage photo artist. Irrepressible, like instinctual... it’s where all the good stuff lives, I believe. Thinking is the enemy.”
In the same interview, Sydney-based freelance photographer, Wendy McDougall, who had been mentored by Stu, recalled him telling her in the early
1990s about his growing desire to make photographs that were not in focus.
“This was maybe initially out of the frustration at how he saw the advertising world operating, as much as a form of self-expression,” Wendy commented. “But look what he does now; his images are beautifully-crafted mood pieces, full of narrative and drama with dashes of humour… he
has followed up on his word and instinct and, by doing that, he is also inspiring beyond words.
“I think Stu himself delves deep within and sometimes is on uneven ground, but this all adds to his continual challenge to express himself in the ways he wants. I honestly don’t know why his images and artworks are not more widely received, they’re fantastic. But one day the world will sit up and see his contribution and kick themselves for not paying more attention earlier.”
Now the world gets the chance to pay more attention as Stu publishes a muchawaited book he’s titled YIELD.
In the introduction to the book, he writes, “From an early career striding across the land in sharp focus and precision; to a later one meandering through half-lit valleys of blurs and hints, so my images have grown wings and fins and somehow learnt to survive on the evolutionary timeline.
“Becoming a reportage photographer and learning to respond instinctively, rather than plotting and planning, was like changing writing hands. Instead of being flummoxed by such a shift in gears though, somehow the pen felt comfortable in the ‘wrong’ hand. Sure, the writing looked different – very different – but allowing the other side of the brain to write the script was – and still is – liberating. Like I often say, I am just not clever enough to set up the scenes I photograph. They present themselves as I wander clifftops and back streets, and my wrong hand does the rest.
“The images in this book span a
15-year period, and cover a number of my exhibitions. For a man with a truly terrible memory, I find it astonishing that I can recall the events precisely – the time, the places and, more importantly, my feelings when I was taking each of these images. It’s a double-edged sword, though, because I love and hate so many of the images, often at the same time. It’s a little like family members who you can’t live without, but are OK seeing just once a year, say, on Christmas Day.”
Open Spaces
Ross Heathcote, who is the curator at the Manly Art Gallery & Museum, describes
Stu’s photographs as “poetic, disturbing, amusing, whimsical, nostalgic, blurry, timeless, uplifting, melancholic”. These were, in fact, some of the adjectives used by visitors to Stu’s recent exhibition at the gallery.
“What was wonderful to observe during the exhibition were the conversations between gallery visitors, provoked by a single Spence image. Stu Spence photographs with ‘open spaces’ that prompt viewers to construct their own narratives which, along with their emotional responses, flow in unpredictable, unrestrained ways.
“In his famous essay, Death Of The Author, the French theorist Roland Barthes argues that the author/artist/auteur doesn’t create a work with a fixed meaning, but rather structures a unique framework or a collage for the viewer to think within and respond. It’s a damn good argument and stands almost any test, though it’s rarely accepted warmly by artists – nor curators for that matter. I think Barthes would be proud of Stu Spence. Unlike many artists, Stu is quite content to accept that his images will be interpreted by every viewer in their own unique way.”