In an article I just read titled Herzog on Herzog; Legitimacy, Herzog talks about himself and his influences for his work. I found aspects of what he said quite interesting, and there were a few frazes through his anwers in which instilled a sense of reflection and contimplation for my own work. For instance,
"These are the kinds of landscapes I try to find in my films, the landscapes that exist only in our dreams. For me a true landscape is not just a representation of a deert or a forest. It shows an inner state of mind, literally inner lanscapes, and it is the human soul that is visible through the lanscapes presented in my films..." -Herzog
This part about creating the inner landscapes of our inner state of mind really intrigues me. I know hes particularly talking about how he relates that within his films but I felt it could relate to much more then that. In some ways we're all as artist trying to achieve portraying the inner landscapes of our minds -at least I am at times. For instance, if we were trying to only recreate something that already exist within this world with no alterations, absolutely exactly like is was then are we really doing anything but documentation? I personally don't even think its possible to not "recreate" without part of ones "inner landscape" to shine through, I find this a wonderful thing.
When i'm creating art I feel a lot of times as if I am trying to show some of my "inner landscapes". I take it as through its what makes you live, your perspective on the world which is totally unique to you with its completely unique mixture of the outside nature and nurture within your life. Its showing your human existence and the human condition.
This has also started me thinking about what i'm aware of that influence my work. Some of these influences include people close to me like my family and friends. Sometimes though, i'm influenced by the encounter with a complete stranger who offers nothing but kindness. So I guess I'm influenced by the joy within the human condition, and everything that supports that.
I can see how the connection of a visual landscape would appeal to you. Your previous and continuing work involving photographs of different people posing with the same material or in other locations seems very much a similar notion in trying to capture something of the unique mental processes of different subjects.
ReplyDeleteAli, I also mentioned the same part in my blog, where Herzog talks about the "inner landscape" in the article. After reading this article and then watching the commentary in class, I realized how many scenes take place out in the open landscape (such as the frozen river scene). Every time I came across a landscape scene, it made me wonder what "inner meaning" the landscape held. It was quite fascinating and moving to see how Herzog develops a new meaning through each landscape in all his scenes. The characters themselves may not be saying much (or we might not even be understanding them), but their surroundings and the setting speaks it all for us.
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed how Herzog assigned a voice to nature and allowed it to interact with the viewers directly, without the need of the characters.
Herzog's relating the inner landscape and the soul seem to defy so much contemporary thought. He works from intuition and that changes the end result.
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