A "Thing" Like You and Me.

Dates

2018 - Ongoing
Author

Anton Kuehnhackl
Location Sebastopol, United States
Recognition

Projection at PhMuseum Days 2022 - PhMuseum Days 2022 Open Call

I am interested in questioning approaches towards photography, through presentation, how an image is constructed, or re-photography. I believe that for the medium to continue on, it needs to push ways of looking at and considering images; how they function in the 21st century.

These works ask if formal roles of photographs, as things that can only be displayed in rigid ways, are really working. Using the "Materiality" and "Object-ness" of photographs, its structure, to turn it into something new; outside of these constraints, asks even more impactful questions. In constructing physically and digitally, it obscures the overall truth of the image and focuses the viewer on specific parts.

It’s also just being curious about how something will look, the “phenomenology” of an image; taken out of its original context and displayed as something else. One could say I'm trying to "reinvent the wheel", but all I'm asking is; why not multiple views of the same wheel? is there even a "wheel" in the first place?

© Anton Kuehnhackl - Image from the A "Thing" Like You and Me. photography project

i

Childhood memories are ones that are usually prized, displayed in the home for family & guests to see. But what if it's reversed? All meaning is taken out, and each image displaying memories is merely reduced to its form. Going from something loaded with meaning and story, to an absence of those is what interested me.

© Anton Kuehnhackl - Mom loves to get Odds & Ends at the local Swap Meet, and I just love to reconstruct them!

i

Mom loves to get Odds & Ends at the local Swap Meet, and I just love to reconstruct them!

© Anton Kuehnhackl - Image from the A "Thing" Like You and Me. photography project

i

The original image was shot with a 4x5 view camera. I'd been focusing on the history of the property I've lived on since little, a place that was home to religious movements like Hare Krishna...who are largely associated with 'commune' style living, and building a sense of home through community. The New Californian Ideology suited a lot of folk in these places, but when faced with the reality of running a huge co-op space, most members quickly gave up. "Paradise" comes at a cost. In reality, the ramshackle 'homes' they developed were just full of junk that they hoarded, and left for others (me) to clean up. I found the duality of dealing with large topics like communes/religion/community through the junk they left behind to be a hilarious combination, and a reality check.

© Anton Kuehnhackl - Image from the A "Thing" Like You and Me. photography project

i

Thought about the myth of Sisyphus while constructing this. How can I bring the feeling of constant, unceasing rolling with physical objects? Whats one thing that you accumulate most on a farm? In my case, it's junk. Cutoffs from building projects, that are then reused elsewhere, string trimmer from a lawn eater that can be used as ties for a rabbit cage...like everything else I use, there's always an inherent reuse for said item(s).

© Anton Kuehnhackl - Image from the A "Thing" Like You and Me. photography project

i

I was stuck cleaning out an old storage unit and given some rope (yes, an odd combo). But then happening upon a landscape painting from a German painter; that also happened to look so "American" and reminded me of the "American Progress" painting by John Gast (itself a play on Manifest Destiny), I knew I had to combine the two separate but similar objects into something larger. "Progress" comes at the cost of being stuck collecting dust in a storage unit? The irony is fully there, and I love it.

© Anton Kuehnhackl - Image from the A "Thing" Like You and Me. photography project

i

Took this image intending to only rearrange/intervene in the shelving, but remembered I had some shim images with a similar wood grain....felt the fake construct fit well with the "real" backdrop.

© Anton Kuehnhackl - Image from the A "Thing" Like You and Me. photography project

i

Worked a job rebuilding a wall...during cleanup I couldn't help but build my own wall, a studio wall. Played around with the ideas of labor and workers, how they'll usually keep photo mementos to improve spirits while working; The use of an Anime themed girl here isn't lost on me, and adds a nice, hugely ironic, touch to the whole image.

© Anton Kuehnhackl - Image from the A "Thing" Like You and Me. photography project

i

Had this "one off" image sitting on my drive, on its own was nice as a photograph, but a little dull. Remembered I had some images of children's blocks and a friends hand, combined the two and felt it fit well against the backdrop of my fathers room. When you're little, play is a huge part of your life, it permeates every aspect of childhood and is a huge foundation. But as we get older, that sense or feeling of play is lost and replace with serious-ness...the world is full of adults who do grown things, with no time for "play" is what we're taught. How boring.

© Anton Kuehnhackl - Image from the A "Thing" Like You and Me. photography project

i

I had just turned 30. It was a day for celebration, a friend had just come up. Going into my studio, I couldn't help but notice a stack of shims and blue tape....my age is an adult and for the future will be, but in the moment, why not return to kid like instincts?

© Anton Kuehnhackl - Image from the A "Thing" Like You and Me. photography project

i

Saw the painters tape, saw the basket, decided these two clearly separate items needed to come together. Results speak for itself, I'd say.

© Anton Kuehnhackl - Image from the A "Thing" Like You and Me. photography project

i

When little, you're given various milestones in development...reaching a certain height, learning your first words, riding a bicycle, ect. Reaching adulthood there seems to be only three; Starting a career, building a family, buying a house. And yet even with less, I couldn't help but notice the similarities of milestones in our lives, to the play structure most of us used growing up, the Monkey Bars. But where as those had a set start and end, being a structure, the bars we encounter in life seem unending and infinite.

© Anton Kuehnhackl - Image from the A "Thing" Like You and Me. photography project

i

Was at first only interested in the transparency of the bib, but then thinking on the bib as an object and its various parts, like ties...I rummaged around until stumbling upon these ties used for gardening. Both items serve the same purpose, to hold something carefully.

© Anton Kuehnhackl - Image from the A "Thing" Like You and Me. photography project

i

Cleaning out a storage room last year, I came across various items from my past, like an 8th grade portfolio of work (why we had to do one is beyond me...), puzzles from when I was even younger, and a lottery ticket holder. The "playfulness" of each of these items is apparent, puzzles when you're younger to stimulate the brain and explain things around you, multiplication tables with colors to draw you into an otherwise boring task, lottery tickets with flashy advertising that makes you feel like you could win, just like anyone else.

© Anton Kuehnhackl - Image from the A "Thing" Like You and Me. photography project

i

My family has a vast collection of wrapping papers, sometimes it feels like we have more of this than anything else in the house....we also have a huge collection of intricate rugs. Therefore like other photos, I was just curious about combining the two items. The idea of "peeling" also entered my thought process while constructing...in certain cultures they use cheap wrapping papers as wallpaper and even rugs as insulation. After all, why not? it still serves the same purpose, albeit slightly tweaked.

© Anton Kuehnhackl - Image from the A "Thing" Like You and Me. photography project

i

Family Heirlooms are usually things that are viewed as "passive" collections. Most of the time they sit and collect dust, with family members paying little to no attention to them; But happening upon my Grandmas set, I couldn't help but document it and wonder...what if it was tweaked?

© Anton Kuehnhackl - Image from the A "Thing" Like You and Me. photography project

i

This image was made shortly after graduation, in May of 2020. I went in with dreams and came out jaded, due to a global pandemic, lackluster support from an alma matter struggling with financial drama, a general sense of hopelessness and hectic-ness. Despite all this going on, I knew that pushing through with work would lead to some result. It's that endpoint or answer I was keen on getting to, rather than focusing on my bleak present.