Nottingham Contemporary: Alien Encounters.
Sun Ra: The Cosmo man, Philadelphia 1979
Sun Ra was an extraordinary musician, poet and thinker. He was deeply involved in the visual presentation of his music and ideas. His work is set within an installation created by Nadia Lauro who usually designs scenographic for experimental dance. Sun Ra was born as Herman Poole Blount in 1914, he then died in 1933. He proceeded to change his name to Sun Ra, Ra being the Egyptian God of the sun and preached awareness and peace above all. He denied any connection with his birth name saying 'thats an imaginary person, never existed... Any name that I use other than Ra is a pseudonym.' This may link to the photographs as Sun Ra may be trying to show who he believes he is.
As you walk into the room it is completely yellow from the floor to the ceiling, this creates an alien mood as it is an usual choice of decoration and unsettles the eye. However this helps the photographs stand out as they are in black frames and all the photographs are black and white prints. The photographs also come with a set of extracts, full books and design ideas which are underneath the first set of photographs, this gives them context and makes them more personal to the photographer. The photographs are well composed and follow composure rules such as the rule of thirds and this creates a set of aesthetically pleasing photographs which draw you in. The final two photographs break the pattern of black and white prints in a black frame as they are colour with no frame. This makes the man stand out more and suddenly creates a sense of royalty and importance about him as his colours are golden and full of colour.
(http://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/art/alien-encounters)
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