Jan Groover
Jan Groover was born in Plainfeild, New Jersey on April 24, 1943. She was an American photographer that received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1965 from Pratt Institute. In addition, Jan Groover also got a Master of Arts in 1970 from Ohio State University.
Her work was also subject of the retrospective Museum of Modern Art in 1987. Groover enjoyed playing around with everyday objects by using space and illusion to create still lifes. Her work is famous for using kitchen utensils such as forks knives and spoons.
Jan Groover was a still life photographer. Compared to Edward Weston who was also a still life photographer, Groover took pictures of more silver ware rather than actual food. Also, Groover’s still lifes were in color so that brings a lot more character to them. Edward Weston's still life's were very abstract and Groover's were a lot more realistic. In addition, while a lot of still lifes are fruits such as pears and apples, Groover focused more on the silver ware in some of her pictures, like ketchup and mustard. However, both Groover's and Weston's still lifes for the most part all seem very arranged. None of them seem to look like something you would just walk in and see. They looked very manicured.
Groover believed the world was a big beautiful sandbox that you can do anything you want with. She also thought that some pictures have to do more with the world than others. She wanted to show in her photographs that you can make up the world anyway you want. She also wanted to convey good pictures that people get stuck on and can’t stop thinking about. She decided to do color still lifes because she knew this was what appealed to the public. She also used mundane objects to bring a sense of the Renaissance time period to her pictures.
Groover was influenced by photographers such as Walker Evans. She said she was influenced by him because he “was good.” She enjoyed how he arrannged his pictures exactly how he wanted them. She also said photographers like him taught her she could make up the world and that was why she decided to take on still life photography because she could make up the photograph any way she wanted.
I feel my photos tell a story about myself that Groover's don't. In my opinion, Groovers photos look like she was playing around and decided to take some photos. For example, "A Jan Groover Recreation" to me looks like Groover just sprinkled ketchup and mustard on a fork a knife and a spoon. However, Don't Play With your Food by me shows how I have always felt that ketchup and mustard have always been at war. I can't stand mustard, but I love ketchup. By arranging the mustard and ketchup to never go in the same direction and to never merge or meet, I showed that ketchup and mustard will never be equal in my eyes. Next, in the Untitled-Platinum-Palladium, I feel Jan Groover was trying to show reality of a kitchen. They are usually messy, unorganized and nasty with dirty dishes in the sink. I agree with Groover that kitchens should be portrayed this way. This was why I tried to replicate exactly the same photo so it would reveal the same type of feel. Lastly, Tybee Forks and Starts by Jan Groover has a lot of noise in the picture that makes it somewhat blurry. However, my photo called Forks and Knives also has a lot of noise because I wanted to replicate Groover's photo because I agree with the fact that silverware doesn't always stay perfectly shiny, clean and without scratches. I noticed the noise was added to show that silver ware wares and tears over time.
.
Bibliography
http://www.paulfreches.com/v6/2013-Jan-Groover-press-release.pdf
http://thebluelantern.blogspot.com/2013/05/everything-was-already-there-jan-groover.html
http://www.britannica.com/biography/Jan-Groover
Artist Statement
In my photos I wanted to portray what I think silverware, food and the kitchen is all about. For the picture I titled "Don't Play with your Food" I wanted to show that I don't like mustard so I didn't want to let the ketchup touch the mustard. In the photo I titled "Forks and Knives" I wanted to add a lot of noise to the photo to show that silverware ware and tears over time. It never stays perfectly shiny and clean. That's why I prefer paper untensils. Lastly, the photo I titled "Unorganized Meal Preparation", I wanted to show the real appearance of a kitchen rather that what we see in manicured photos. Kitchens are messy and dirty until you clean them and that's what I wanted to portray in my photos.
In my photos I wanted to portray what I think silverware, food and the kitchen is all about. For the picture I titled "Don't Play with your Food" I wanted to show that I don't like mustard so I didn't want to let the ketchup touch the mustard. In the photo I titled "Forks and Knives" I wanted to add a lot of noise to the photo to show that silverware ware and tears over time. It never stays perfectly shiny and clean. That's why I prefer paper untensils. Lastly, the photo I titled "Unorganized Meal Preparation", I wanted to show the real appearance of a kitchen rather that what we see in manicured photos. Kitchens are messy and dirty until you clean them and that's what I wanted to portray in my photos.