Staudinger Franke

Staudinger Franke is famous for his focus on visually striking presentation. He has won awards for his complex pieces and is regarded as a leading figure in his methods. He takes everyday photography and flips it on its head by changing details within it. I am a fan of his somewhat dark visual comedy at times, for example taking a soft teddy bear and turning it into a cactus or replacing a children's slide with a food grater. This idea of changing certainties within our day to day lives for a comedic or eye opening undertones could be something worth exploring for my hyperreality subject.

This image is interesting as it takes a common sight for most people and changes it to make it something extraordinary. The wing of a plane is a common sight for a lot of people, and for businessmen such as the type seen in the image it can be a sight associated with boredom. Franke has taken this common setting and person and showed them in a new way by having him on the wing of the plane, making it exciting.

This image at first glance can seem quite strange and ordinary upon first glance. Looking into more detail, we can see that this image is actually an exciting rendition of what would otherwise be a boring image. Franke achieves this by changing something as simple as butter into something as extraordinary as a mountain range. As a result, this image plays with the audiences perspectives in a way that is not commonly seen within this common setting.

This image is interesting because of the way that Franke offers a new and interesting way to tell a visual story. We can see what appears to be a shipwreck, with debris floating in the water, chipped surfaces and algae growing on the boat. Franke is able to give us an insight into what life on the boat was like before the wreck. We can see two men having an arm wrestle, who are sat as if the boat was still sailing. This simple method of story telling through contrasting images is an effective way of getting messages across to the audience.

Staudinger Franke is able to give us an insight into what other people are thinking through simple visual methods. The interesting thing about this image compared the Franke's other images that I have shown so far is that it looks as if little amounts of photoshop have been used. We can see the formal element reflection being used in a way that gives the illusion of akan playing guitar. We can assume that the person within the image dreams of becoming a musician or owning that guitar in the window. We can see that he is imagining himself playing it in the reflection.

Summary:

Staudinger Franke offers an interesting variation on surrealism through different purposes of his methods. Where some surreal artists will look just to show a distorted reality, Franke puts story within some of his images. We can deduce what a person wants, what they think or we can even tell what life may be like in different circumstances. All of these images are set within relatively standard settings that may appear boring to some but are immediately made extraordinary due to Franke's special blend of surrealism. I could utilise this idea and develop it in order to take an everyday situation and heighten it in similar ways to Staudinger Franke, similarly to how the media create heightened versions of reality within film and magazines.

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