Keith Arnatt
“Pictures from a Rubbish Tip 1988–9 is a series of five large colour photographs by the British artist Keith Arnatt featuring close-up shots of rubbish that has been dumped at a local tip. In each photograph, the lens focuses upon select pieces of discarded food – such as bread, chicken bones and vegetables – that lie on clear and pale-coloured plastic bags. … Each is presented at an apparently fixed distance from the camera and this, as well as the similar lighting effects used across the five works, creates a sense of cohesion in the series…
In this way, the discarded, mouldy food items can be seen as objects of beauty when presented in a different setting, especially when using framing techniques, colour and lighting and that enhance the visual appeal of the images… In a similar way, by focusing on food items that have been discarded en masse, Pictures from a Rubbish Tip presents the wastage and excess that characterise modern consumption, although Arnatt shows these objects in a manner that simultaneously emphasises both their beauty and their decay.” – Tate Exhibit Summary
Looking at his work, Arnatt focuses on taking discarded and unwanted items and changes their meaning. Items many people would ignore have been made into something new, changing their context and making them into a piece of art. Although the idea of deliberately visiting a dumping ground its less than ideal, his dedication to showing off certain foods that have been discarded enhances the effort that has gone into both the production of the photo, and the editing. Some of his other work focuses on objects rather than decaying food.
References:
Arnatt, K. (2009) ‘Pictures from a Rubbish Tip’, Keith Arnatt | Tate. London, England. Available from http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/arnatt-pictures-from-a-rubbish-tip-t13171 [accessed 13 April 2016]