Admittedly, there is a beauty to the "Nightscapes" series of Frank Relle, although I don't know that there is enough intrigue to bring me through the series of forty-four images without struggling to remain interested. Relle's "Nightscapes" cultivate a distinct aesthetic and, to state the obvious, portray a very specific subject matter.
I look at Relle's work, and I'm not sure where to go.
With Alec Soth, I'm not sure where to start.
There is a medieval book known as the "Voynich Manuscript," written in an indecipherable language and containing puzzling diagrams of non-existent plant life, and what appear to be astronomical charts. It's the subject of some controversy whether or not this book is a legitimate artifact containing any real language or message- though it is doubtless centuries old. And for centuries, it has drawn the fascination of historical scholars and linguists, hoping to delve to the essence of the book's meaning.
To me, the "Broken Manual" is something like this book- indecipherable, yet oddly intriguing. Separately, it contains some images that are striking in themselves, and some that are unremarkable, but together the photographs create a slough of questions, and perhaps the feeling that we are looking at a sequence or narrative that is not meant to be understood.
The contrast between the two works is stark- Relle's images have a beauty at times, but they do not ensnare the viewer in the way that the "Broken Manual" series does. Diversity of subject matter creates this effect, but I'm also inclined to believe that there is an element of allowing the viewer to ponder and unveil links for herself that goes a long way towards creating a dynamic series.
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