Learn how to decode Canadian art | TVO Arts

Every time you dig deeper into a work of art, your understanding grows. So keep it up! 

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I felt that that was an inherently instantaneous image, or an image of instantaneity and it was photographic somehow. It was an invitation for me to do something with it.” 

How do you think this photo was captured?

A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai) by Vancouver-based artist Jeff Wall is housed at the Tate Modern in London. The photograph attempts to capture a moment in time, but it is actually made up of more than 100 individual photographs put together.  This episode reveals how photography doesn't just capture a moment; it can also construct one.

TVO Arts - Jeff Wall, A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai)

00:00
(bright music)
00:07
NARRATOR: What is it about photography
00:09
that sets it apart from other types of art?
00:12
From the beginning, photography promised to capture
00:15
an instant, share truth, freeze a moment in time.
00:20
Well, maybe it's time to look at photography
00:22
with a new lens.
00:24
This is "A Sudden Gust of Wind After Hokusai,"
00:27
by Vancouver-based artist, Jeff Wall.
00:30
It was made in 1993.
00:32
Today, you can see it at the Tate Modern in London, England,
00:36
alongside some of the greatest artworks
00:38
from the past century.
00:40
JOSH: Well, the first thing that I see
00:41
is obviously the paper just flying everywhere,
00:43
and it looks very chaotic.
00:46
CLAIRE: Yeah, he's somehow captured this perfect moment
00:49
of those pages blowing perfectly across his frame.
00:53
MASAMI: I think the man in the center is really enjoying
00:57
to see all the papers in the sky,
01:00
and then try to catch, but other people
01:03
are not really happy.
01:05
NARRATOR: It's true, you can pretty much
01:06
feel the strength of the breeze whipping through the scene.
01:10
The sky is bleak. You have to wonder, is a storm coming?
01:14
In the foreground, a few unlucky people battle the elements.
01:20
There's something very comical and frustrating
01:22
as they fall prey to the wind.
01:24
We've all been there.
01:26
Here, someone has lost their hat, and they look up,
01:29
doubtful it will ever return.
01:32
And over here, precious papers are blowing across the sky.
01:36
Wall's photograph is based on this woodblock print
01:40
that depicts travelers near Mount Fuji on a blustery day.
01:43
It was created by Japanese Master
01:45
Katsushika Hokusai in the 1830s.
01:49
You may already know Hokusai for this famous image,
01:52
"The Great Wave off Kanagawa."
01:55
MARINELLA: For sure the images are similar.
01:58
I do get the idea that everyone is on
02:01
like some particular journey.
02:03
JOSH: The papers and the people,
02:05
the tree, seems to be in the same spot.
02:07
MASAMI: It's really, really old.
02:09
It's more like, I feel, like a history coming again,
02:12
like history follows history again.
02:15
NARRATOR: Let's talk about Jeff Wall.
02:17
Wall is a celebrated photographer
02:19
living and working in Vancouver today.
02:22
But he's also trained as an art historian,
02:24
and many of his works reference masters
02:27
like Eugene Delacroix and Edouard Manet.
02:30
At the start of his career, Jeff Wall
02:32
practiced painting and drawing.
02:34
But when he was about 20, his father bought him
02:36
his first camera, and he never looked back.
02:40
The images Jeff Wall creates feel like scenes from a movie.
02:44
And that's because he creates them like movies,
02:47
with actors, sets, and tech crews.
02:50
He often displays his images on light boxes,
02:53
which makes you feel like you're watching
02:54
a scene from a film.
02:57
Wall came of age as an artist during the heyday of
03:00
conceptual art, a type of art in which the idea
03:03
behind the piece is the most important part of the artwork.
03:08
He is considered a pioneer of conceptual photography.
03:12
That's when a photograph is used to picture an idea
03:15
or to construct a false reality.
03:18
Jeff Wall is one of a number of artists from Vancouver
03:20
who began exploring conceptual photography around the 1980s.
03:25
These artists are known as the Vancouver School.
03:28
Other members include Ken Lum, Stan Douglas,
03:32
and Rodney Graham, to name a few,
03:34
each pushing the boundaries of photography.
03:37
MARINELLA: He must've had a great time making this image.
03:41
JOSH: The likelihood of all of that happening
03:43
at the same time seems pretty wild.
03:46
I don't think that would happen in real life.
03:49
MASAMI: Like, he's probably try a whole day
03:52
or maybe a week to get this one best photo.
03:55
I think it's very difficult to do it.
03:58
NARRATOR: "A Sudden Gust of Wind" is actually made up
04:00
of more than 100 individual photographs.
04:04
What you see is a digital photo montage.
04:08
Wall photographed the scene with his camera positioned
04:10
in the exact same place, set to the same focus
04:14
and aperture size, then he stitched the shots together
04:18
with photo editing software.
04:19
The cast of characters is just that, a group of people
04:23
handpicked by Jeff Wall to star in his production.
04:26
Knowing it would be nearly impossible to capture the scene
04:29
in a single snap, Wall constructed it piece by piece.
04:34
For over a year, he photographed each person
04:36
at this exact location, a cranberry farm
04:39
just outside of Vancouver, sometimes together,
04:43
sometimes alone, with natural wind,
04:46
and sometimes with a wind machine.
04:49
The pages flying up were originally suspended
04:51
from strings and long poles.
04:53
Some sheets were even thrown straight into the air.
04:57
You can imagine the time it took to get it right.
05:00
This style of digital photo montage
05:03
plays through in many of Wall's pieces.
05:06
Creating images like these takes real planning.
05:09
In this study, you can see how Wall
05:12
composed "A Sudden Gust of Wind."
05:14
He used a grid as a guide to arrange
05:16
the scene's major elements,
05:19
to probably scale the pages
05:21
and plot out their flight pattern.
05:24
The papers are grouped around a diagonal line
05:26
that cuts across the frame from the bottom left
05:30
to the top right.
05:32
This creates a sense of movement, and draws the eye up
05:36
from the crowd into the sky.
05:38
We feel the wind. We are traveling with the gust.
05:43
And as you can see, every decision
05:44
carefully matches the inspiration.
05:47
Wall was attracted to the original Hokusai piece
05:50
because it is an image of instantaneity.
05:54
It pictures an instant much the same way
05:56
we think photography does.
05:59
JOSH: It's just really cool that he can be inspired
06:02
by something, and then also just recreate it in a way,
06:05
like in his own way.
06:06
CLAIRE: More thought has been put into each
06:08
and every piece of detail of this,
06:11
which I didn't appreciate initially.
06:13
MASAMI: I feel like photographs is more like
06:14
a commercial art, but this photo is like art, art, art.
06:19
NARRATOR: What "A Sudden Gust of Wind" tells us
06:22
is that photography doesn't only capture a moment,
06:25
it can also construct one.
06:27
Just like film and painting,
06:29
photography can be invented from pure fantasy.
06:33
Today, we all face a never-ending scroll
06:36
of fabricated images.
06:39
Like "A Sudden Gust of Wind," it can be difficult to tell
06:42
what's real and what's not.
06:44
Jeff Wall makes the case that seeing is no longer believing,
06:49
and perhaps it never was.
06:51
Join us as we decode Canadian art
06:54
and understand why looking at art matters.
06:57
(bright music)

Merging art history with cinematic techniques, see how Jeff Wall’s work questions what’s real and what’s true.

Jeff Wall – A Sudden Gust of Wind