And so to another site launch – I hereby present A View on the Ocean, an artist’s journal; a diaristic collection of photographs, comments, stories and music by photographer Andrew Robert Fox.
Fox has been blogging for a couple of years on his band site, Sea of Wires. As the journal changed emphasis and direction a new home was required and so A View on the Ocean came to be. Inspired by his journal in which he explored his own ‘ocean’, Fox created a collection of black and white photographic images capturing a single moment of human reflection. This collection is currently on exhibition at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry. The curator describes the show rather well:
Fox invites the viewer to experience a new aloneness, serenity and thoughtfulness beyond what is happening in everyday environments. This is an atmospheric body of work, where traditional single-image composition is supported by time-based work – in groups of two or three linked images – to form a narrative for the viewer to explore within the gallery environment.
Like a strange silent film, a simple café conversation and a holiday boat trip turn into surreal slices of time as Fox captures a world apart from the norm; of human contemplation, and thoughtful isolation from the physical world. The subjects, by the nature of the photographic pieces, seemingly stare over picture planes to other places – viewing their ocean, as a dark romanticism unfolds.
Many pictures from the exhibition have appeared in A View on the Ocean (e.g. Morning Café, On the Lake) and the site was subsequently designed – with warm monochrome, generous white space and uncomplicated typography – to match the feel of the show, the framing of the photographs therein and the accompanying literature.
Credits – Production and build by me, layout in close collaboration with Fox (I mention that to emphasise the unusually close and successful working relationship with the client) and final design by my infinitely more talented brother Dave ‘Les’ Rutter.
John Oxton wrote:
I really do like that a lot, the layout is damn clever I have to say. :)
Peter Goddard wrote:
Hi Richard
A superb piece of work with an entirely suitable theme for the subject.
Congratulations, Applause should come from all sides not least of which from the web standards community. Standards with STYLE!
All the best