John Dobson | Agora Gallery Represented Artist

JOHN

D O B S O N

530 West 25th Street, New York, NY

From erotically-charged fetish photography to travel shots and Renaissance-inspired still lives, Australian photographer John Dobson creates densely evocative tableaux with a surrealist edge. His work is inspired by Old Hollywood glamor, 20th-century avant-garde photography as well as 1970s punk rock culture, which he experienced while living in London as a student.

John Dobson selects images that speak to his subconscious. He begins with the intent of recreating them as authentically as possible, but oftentimes, either through design or necessity, ends up imposing his own angle and sense of irony onto the shots. He stages his subjects methodically, with almost obsessive precision, be they humans, fake fruit, or architectural landmarks. Elegant and statuesque, they look back at us with a vague enigmatic air that borders on defiance. They are like characters in a play of illusion, luring the audience into a world of dreams; a world concealed behind a thick curtain of pink latex, which could equally hide poisonous traps or forbidden pleasures. This results in shots of striking visual power and an extraordinary magnetic pull.

John Dobson studied Graphic Design at the Royal College of Art, in London, and the Maidstone College of Art in Kent, UK. He worked in advertising as an art director for many years, briefing photographers, while taking photographs for himself in his spare time. Wanting to explore the technical side of photography, he completed a Diploma of Photography and a Certificate IV of Photography at TAFE NSW Ultimo, Sydney. Besides England, he lived in Germany and traveled extensively throughout Europe and the United States. He is currently based in Melbourne, Australia.

V I E W J O H N D O B S O N O N A G O R A G A L L E RY

Amsterdam, Netherlands 3, 2015 Canson Inkjet Photographique Rag 310gsm 30” x 24” $ 1 5 0 0 – B U Y O N A RT-M I N E.C O M

Amsterdam, Netherlands 4, 2015 Canson Inkjet Photographique Rag 310gsm 24” x 30”

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Beach Huts, Brighton Beach, Melbourne, Australia 1, 2017 Canson Inkjet Photographique Rag 310gsm 24” x 30”

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Beach Huts, Brighton Beach, Melbourne, Australia 2, 2016 Canson Inkjet Photographique Rag 310gsm 24” x 30”

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Beach Huts, Brighton Beach, Melbourne, Australia 3, 2017 Canson Inkjet Photographique Rag 310gsm 24” x 30”

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Beach Huts, Brighton Beach, Melbourne, Australia 4, 2016 Canson Inkjet Photographique Rag 310gsm 24” x 30”

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Beach Huts, Brighton Beach, Melbourne, Australia 5, 2018 Canson Inkjet Photographique Rag 310gsm 24” x 30”

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Beach Huts, Brighton Beach, Melbourne, Australia 6, 2017 Canson Inkjet Photographique Rag 310gsm 24” x 30”

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Beach Huts, Brighton Beach, Melbourne, Australia 7, 2016 Canson Inkjet Photographique Rag 310gsm 24” x 30”

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Damrak, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2015 Canson Inkjet Photographique Rag 310gsm 24” x 30”

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Harry’s Café de Wheels, Woolloomooloo, Sydney, Australia, 2016 Canson Inkjet Photographique Rag 310gsm 24” x 30”

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Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2019 Canson Inkjet Photographique Rag 310gsm 24” x 30”

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Windmills, Netherlands, 2015 Canson Inkjet Photographique Rag 310gsm 24” x 30”

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Weymouth, Dorset, UK 1, 2015 Canson Inkjet Photographique Rag 310gsm 24” x 30”

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Rural Netherlands, 2015 Canson Inkjet Photographique Rag 310gsm 24” x 30”

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Lake Wendouree, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia 1, 2017 Canson Inkjet Photographique Rag 310gsm 24” x 30”

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Weymouth, Dorset, UK 2, 2015 Canson Inkjet Photographique Rag 310gsm 24” x 30”

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Lake Wendouree, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia 4, 2017 Canson Inkjet Photographique Rag 310gsm 24” x 30”

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In my series Visual Art Icons, I reference visual arts icons from fine art, film, and photography from antiquity to 20th and 21st-century popular culture. In all the examples, the original image spoke to me, remaining in my subconscious, compelling me to pay homage, honor and photographically interpret or reinterpret the original work, while capturing the essence of the original and gaining an understanding of what makes the work iconic.

As a photographer it is a way for me to understand the light, composition, design, styling, mise-en-scène, symbolism, and color palette of the original without imposing my own idiosyncratic values onto it. Recreating a painting photographically, I change the medium and, in so doing, comment on it through a 21st-century point of view. Sometimes, that is enough of a shift in itself. In the process I examine the essence of the image, deconstruct it and discover what makes it iconic. Often I begin with the intention of recreating the image as authentically as possible. Sometimes, however, either through design or necessity, I end up imposing my own angle or sense of irony into the shot.

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