The Springville Center of the Arts held an exhibition called “Getting Physical” from February 9th through March 10th. It showcased the artwork of Max Collins. The photographs he placed in this exhibit show off his own style and approach to photography.
Using his own photographs, he applies them to objects in order to show the physical process of his work. He enlarged many of his photos to have a big impact on their viewers. Some of the photos are applied to fences, while he is also known to apply others to buildings. One of the fence pieces was actually in the exhibit, showing a sobbing baby that was the entire size of the fence. Using Photoshop, he edits the pictures to his desire. Afterward, Collins wheat pastes them onto the object that he wants. He displays these objects as they are, no matter how big. This creative approach is what makes Max Collins stand out in the photography world.
His portraits are far from traditional. He doesn’t always take the most direct route either. Whether he is trying to evoke some type of emotion or show a theme through his photographs, he finds a unique way of expressing his ideas. Each photograph was able to tell a story. This made them very successful. The photographs were taken with specific lighting and composition techniques in mind. Positive and Negative space, along with point of view, were used often to intensify the photos.
There were quite a few of Max Collins artworks that really stood out to me. All of the work in the show was very intriguing though. Of the ones that stood out to me, was called “Installing Billboard”. This photo of construction workers was black and white and taken from below. The point of view of this photo is what truly made it, along with the selective focus on the people. Another photograph that truly stood out was “No More Talking Part III”. This portrait photo was another non-traditional photo. The way the light hits the figure that was staring just past the camera, was right on. The edited eyes stand out and become the focal point of the whole piece. This photo tells a story with its positive and negative space. It draws in the viewer with the mysterious look in the eyes of the figure and the dark color scheme that was chosen. You can see this story telling quality in every single photo. The messages he incorporates in his photos allow a viewer to go deep into his thoughts.
Overall, this show truly showed the artistic skill of Max Collins. Giant photos and photos on fences are not something that someone sees every single day. His distinctive approach to photography and the way he takes it farther than just snapping a photo is what makes his style his own. Max Collins truly exhibited his best in his “Getting Physical” exhibition.
