Andrew Cross – On the Art of Staring, essay

In reflection this particular essay has been quite affirming. Many of the concepts are not new to me but are feeling confirmed in my mind and reading of them. There are many segments which have been highlighted in green which will possibly form good use down the line but for the moment below there are some reflections of this essay.

Due to the age of the alluded work, and the lack of clear titling in the essay, I found it difficult to identify which images Cross refers to in his prose. I believe it to be ‘Motorway Vistas’. This belief comes from the reference to cypress style trees and the illumination of the image by what comes to be divulged as the near by M1 motorway. The darkness reaching out into the sky and the camera staring at this greenery framed in its lower third by the black of night.

The reference to the work of Hiroshi Sugimoto is an intriguing one. It is work I have come across before, initially as a student and then as a teacher. I remember attempting this same effect during an educational screening of the film ‘War Horse’ held at the place I was then working.