MÆT Series by Per Johansen

非常感谢Per Johansen将项目介绍和项目图片授权gooood发行。更多请至：Per Johansen on gooood 
Appreciation towards Per Johansen for providing the following description:

摄影师Per Johansen的作品MÆT系列通过照片对当代社会消费失衡情况进行了披露。Per Johansen将各种肉类，蔬菜，面食和食品放入合成塑料容器之中，衬上米色，粉色，淡蓝色的背景或前景，拍摄出开朗风格的静物照片。香肠，鸡蛋，鱼在柔和的光线以及阴影之下看上去完美无缺，但是你仔细观察，你会发现里面存在着让人不那么舒服的腐烂物。平衡就此被打破，虽然第一眼印象还不错。

摄影师成功的将对现实的理解和剖析通过“第三只眼”表达出来。这些有机蔬菜和肉类被困在塑料包装的永恒空间和时间中，它们诱人，但它们不和谐，这种不和谐也冲破商家的广告欺骗。

在现在这个世界，利用基因工程，农药，化学技术促进全球食品的产量增长和销售，同时，发达国家地区的消费者却越来越多的接受肥胖手术和治疗。你的食品消费是怎样的，你现在觉得饱些没有？

 

Are you full?

Per Johansen’s pictorial universe is an emblem of the abundance of prosperity. “MÆT” (eng. “FULL”) explicitly circles around the subject of transience; imbalances are present and the photographs are marked by a socially critical observation. The works comment on the zeitgeistʼ artificial overconsumption of products and points to contemporary consumer mentality.The works generate a relevant discussion, reminiscent of 1970s social criticism and ideological points – to deconstruct the system. This social criticism is not present today.

“MÆT” consists of reproductions of meat, vegetables, pasta and other foods which are claustrophobically placed in various synthetic plastic containers. Foreground and background colours are in beige, pink and light blue hues, which refer to a cheerful aspect. The light is reminiscent of the Dutch still life painters, where soft light and shadows were crucial to the mood of the subject. At first glance, the viewer is drawn by something seemingly aesthetic in perfect harmony, like sausage, chicken and fish, but if you take a closer look, the motifs are marked by something decadent, disgusting and incarcerated. Something is in decay, and it disturbs the harmonious balance. A kind of optical illusion “trompe l’oeil” is seemingly at play, and it flirts with the conventions of what you think you see at first glance.

Besides the photo series “MÆT” Johansenʼs work includes “New View York”, depicting evocative architectural lines with melancholic undertones – and stories of urban life has left its traces in the buildings subdued silhouettes. “Another Side” and “Solo” points to people and objects that are taken out of their original context in a surprisingly innovative way. Typical of Johansen’s work is the concept of “vanitas”, where delicate transience enters the motives and is dissolved and deconstructed through the photographer’s transcendental third eye.

The photographs may be regarded as objectified hybrids that fuse together to form new hybrid folders? On one hand, the works are characterized by a layer of glitter varnish, where the commercial pastel expressivity is distinctive. On the other hand, something deviant is going on, since the viewer is confronted with the indelicate synthetic plastic world, where organic vegetables and meat organic life is trapped in eternal time and space. Johansenʼs merry and minimalist expression is in tune with “conventional” advertising language, apparently seductive, but disharmonious because the code of advertisement is broken. Something intangible and diffuse hybrid-like is mutually folded into and out of the material elements, and thus the hybrids are autonomous and can stand alone.

Nowadays, prosperous countries and consumer society gorge on vast amounts of nutrients, where genetically engineered food, e-numbers and pesticides are utilized to promote the global and lucrative food industry sales statistics, while an increasing number of consumers have to undergo obesity surgery or get psychiatric help. What is your food consumption like? Are you full now?

By Charlotte Kim Boed

MORE: Per Johansen，更多请至：Per Johansen on gooood