© Michel Thomas PHOTOGRAPHER MICHEL- THOMAS CANNED THOUGHT OR THREE DAYS WITH A MAN FROM JAPAN
Mar 06, 2016
© Michel Thomas
PHOTOGRAPHER MICHEL-THOMAS
CANNED THOUGHT OR THREE DAYS WITH A MAN FROM JAPAN
© Michel Thomas
The Canned thought- essay (2008) deals with our “utter-dis-
satisfaction-with-my-existence boredom”. What kinds of
chains of feelings and emotions is the photograph a part of?
Thomas acknowledges photography’s non-technological
l ineage, a lineage of theater and sculpture. But what is the
play?(...)
essay by ROMAN MITCH
Michel Thomas lives and work in Malmö and Paris.
www.michel-thomas.com
“The point of departure is the unwritten norm of our daily life.
Showing the appearance of normality, we are often struggling
in social malaise. What is the code of behavior?
The photography are taken in indecisive situations. People
confined in introverted thoughts, l iving in the playgrounds of
our cities ”
photo by MICHEL THOMAS
© Michel Thomas
Window view 2. Tokyo. c-print (100 x 150 cm)
© Michel Thomas
Study 1. Paris. c-print (100 x 150 cm)
© Michel Thomas
Another view. Kosta. c-print (100 x 150 cm)
I heard an artist say recently: “All of my work comes from, or
is enacting a kind of boredom. Not just a waiting-for-the-bus
kind of boredom, but an utter-dissatisfaction-with- my-exis-
tence boredom.” There’s something very funny about this, but
it shouldn’t be taken as a joke.
Why else is art the perfect form for opening up a space for en-
acting “utter dissatisfaction”, other than the fact that the very
ground from which it seeks to separate itself (i.e. our everyday,
common sense horizon of understanding), is exactly the thing
which says to us: enjoy yourself!?
Let me repeat the question in this specific frame. What is it
that gives Thomas the impulse to say this is art to a pho-
tograph which enacts dissatisfaction? While it is the photo-
graphs which he takes of people enjoying themselves which
are negated as art? The obvious answer is that the former
photographs, those not selected as art are in fact commercial,
contracted work.
That is, Thomas has only limited creative control, therefore it is
not his art. But I think we should risk the assumption that com-
mercial viability is secondary to the imperative to enjoy.
second
What is the body of photography? The technical/historical de-
velopment might mislead us. Because photography is not just
the technological advancement of a means of reproduction,
but it is the medium through which we have come to know our-
selves transformed, captured into an object.
In this sense it was Medusa who was the first photographer,
and it is statues that are the first photographs. So it is quite
logical that Thomas talks about Rodin when talking about his
photographs. It is neither a slick re- appropriation of, or a sim-
ple attempt to connect to an established artist. Rather, Thom-
as acknowledges photography’s non-technological l ineage, a
lineage of theater and sculpture. But what is the play?
first
© Michel Thomas
third
Let’s make machines to do it. This idea takes on a strange
resonance when machines are made to engage with our feel-
ings. Think about canned laughter. It isn’t just a cue - laugh
now. It also says: laugh if you want, but if you don’t we’ve
already arranged a back up, so you can relax. You don’t even
have to feel anything.
On comedy TV shows, why is it that the unfortunate charac-
ters are so essential? Is it because we are sadistic, and enjoy
other peoples misfortune, or is it that they enact misfortune
so that it will not come onto us? Thereby allowing us to enjoy
the show, and perhaps our life. It is as if we have a spectrum
of emotion which has to be played out, as a necessity.
But it is much better to keep certain things in fiction. Then
they are machines for enacting the feelings of l ife for which we
do not have the occasion for. This is not a judgment on televi-
sion, toward the end of somehow liberating the differences of
photography the finer art. Photography too is a desiring-ma-
chine. That is desire flows through its parts. It is very much
in the business of creating characters, touching our emotions
and creating effects.
The proper questions are - Where has it coupled itself, into
what kinds of chains of feelings and emotions is the photo-
graph a part of? As we can see it has, among other things
connected itself into art discourse.
In this discourse at least, I know, our desire has turned toward
the kind of objects which denounce the imperative to enjoy
and open up a space for us to be dissatisfied. Here we are al-
lowed not to be impressed. We are expected not to enjoy the
spectacle. If we are lucky we may find that somehow in the
creation of this new distance the objects have a new way of
speaking to us.
ROMAN MITCH
Study 2. Tokyo. c-print (150 x 100 cm)
© Michel Thomas
No man´s land. Belfast. c-print (150 x 100 cm)
Study 3. Ronneby. c-print (150 x 100 cm)
© Michel Thomas
Study 4. London. c-print (150 x 100 cm)
© Michel Thomas
Blinded. London. c-print (100 x 150 cm)
Shadow and stairs. Malmö. c-print (150 x 100 cm)
© Michel Thomas
Study 5. Cancun. c-print (150 x 100 cm)
Window view 1. Tokyo. c-print (100 x 150 cm)
© Michel Thomas
Passing by. Deauville. c-print (100 x 150 cm)
Study 6. Örebro. c-print (100 x 150 cm)
© Michel Thomas
Study 7. Versailles. c-print (100 x 150 cm)
Government house. Tokyo. c-print (50 x 70 cm)
© Michel Thomas
Rain. Berlin. c-print (50 x 70 cm)
Headquaters. London c-print (50 x 70 cm)
© Michel Thomas
Working late. Singapore. c-print (50 x 70 cm)
Ray of light. Autobahn. c-print (100 x 150 cm)
extra
Is it becoming like canned disappointment? Is it our cultures
way of arranging a synthetic backup so that we can avoid gen-
uine disappointment? Will art writing become the art world’s
canned laughter?
© Michel Thomas
Combining a straightforward documentary aesthetic with a con-
ceptual structure, Thomas is crossing the traditional distinction
between ”applied” and ”artistic” photography.
-
Michel Thomas grew up in Paris, France and started in the 80´s as
an assistant for the photographers A. Ruiz-Arago, A. Izdemi Gom-
bos and K. Lash. He managed his own photo studio from 1992 in
Stockholm until l 1999. From fashion to advertising, the focus of
his work shifted in the beginning of 2000, with online social proj-
ects and further on toward art photography. Today, Michel Thom-
as lives in Malmö, Sweden.
2008 © All rights reserved Photographer Michel Thomas