Richard Learoyd (b.1966), Erika, 2007, Ilfachrome print, 127 x 127 cm, Unique.

Richard Learoyd (b.1966, Agnes B, 2007, Ilfachrome print, 127 x 127 cm, Unique.

Richard Learoyd, Agnes Nude, 2007, unique Ilfochrome print, 172.7 x 121.9 cm.

Union Gallery
57 Ewer Street
London
+44 (0) 207 928 3388
Richard Learoyd,
Portraits, Nudes,
and Objects
November 28, 2007
-March 2, 2008

Learoyd's work is the product of a specific but remarkable process. His images are produced individually as singular objects. Utilizing a distinct photographic method he creates life sized images inside a specifically built camera. This construction captures the image with no interposing film negative, transparency or intermediate material. Instead light is directly focused by the camera and translated onto a sheet of photographic paper. With no means of reproduction, once created, every image is unique in its existence.

The photographs are created and conceived as a whole, not as fragments or miniaturisations of objects and people. Whilst being made, the image is viewed by standing in the camera. The transient and realistic images of people are translated on a white board on a black wall, the ultimate personal cinema, or mechanised camera obscura.

All photographs are produced within a single room. A process in itself, objects and people are brought to the camera, positioned and arranged in front of it in order to create still lives or portraits. Artless compositions and simple constructions belie complex and restrictive rules dictated by the physics of optics and light. They import a sense of obscurity that contrasts with the reasonableness and regulations of some photographic formalities. Portraits, nudes and objects all share the same realistic treatment. Unlike pinhole photography, Learoyd’s images are without any distortion and are in no way compromised by the manner of his camera’s construction. He considers the method he uses to be a natural step in search of the ultimate image, not only in its ability to create a likeness but also in the object's ability to translate the intention of the maker. The image’s wholeness and engrossing realism redefines the photographic illusion.

The objects are not everyday objects taken in situ, they are staged on their own pedestals for closer inspection. A glossy squid joins the decadent tableaux of entities: nudes, flowers and marble sculptures. The colours are rich and the detail indulgent, but there is a distilled quietness, sustained within their own hermetic condition.

The works exhibited are rich in colour and detail, a product of a specific process whereby the photographs are made as singular objects. Learoyd utilises a unique photographic method to create large-scale life sized images with a specifically built camera. The camera captures the image without any interposing negative, transparency or intermediate material; rather light is directly focused by the camera onto a positive photographic paper. The images are therefore unique. The photographs are made and conceived as a whole, not as fragments or miniaturisations of objects and people. Whilst being made, the image is viewed by standing in the camera, uncorrected upside down and left to right, transient and realistic images of people on a white board on a black wall, the ultimate personal cinema, or mechanised camera obscura. The work shown is produced in a single room. Objects and people are brought to the camera and placed and arranged in front of the camera. Artless compositions and simple constructions belie complex compositional problems and hopelessly restrictive rules dictated by the physics of optics and light. Portraits, nudes and objects all share the same realistic treatment. Learoyd rejects the idea that his method is simplistic or shares a relationship with pinhole photography. Instead he considers the method he uses to be a natural step in search of the ultimate image, not only in its ability to create likeness, but also in the object's ability to translate the intention of the maker. Sometimes technology, even in a technical medium is not the best solution. The subject matter chosen is not trying to fulfill an externalised cultural brief, but obviously holds resonance for the artist. Learoyd works outside the convention of a photographic sequence or series, but in a cohesive grouping of singular images. He has created a process that cuts like scan through anything or anyone placed before his camera.

Richard Learoyd was born in Lancashire, England in 1966. He studied fine Art Photography at Glasgow School of Art to Post-graduate level. Learoyd exhibited his work widely in the late 80’s and early 90’s before taking a full time teaching position at the Arts institute in Bournemouth. Learoyd has been living and working in London for the last 10 years, this exhibition being the realisation of a five year ongoing project. His work is part of the Victoria & Albert Museum collection, London.