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Title: 45301 by Viggo Mortensen ISBN: 0-9721436-3-7 Publisher: Perceval Press Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 2 (1 review)
Rating: 2
Summary: Where is the envy?
Comment: Viggo Mortensen is a wonderful photographer. His pictures make me want to smash my camera on the ground in envy and despair and gouge out my inferior eyes and curse the Universe for not making me a photography savant. The colors in his photographs and the way he frames them make me want to look at them over and over again and study their elements. So, imagine, if you will, my excitement at receiving 45301 in the mail from a bookstore in Denmark, which, since the book is out of print, is apparently the only bookstore on the planet that actually has it in stock. It arrived last Friday afternoon, and when I got home from work I made myself a gin and tonic, ceremoniously opened the book's shrink-wrap, and settled onto the sofa to look at it and feel that sweet, burning envy.
45301 has been described in one review as "dense and thought-provoking", and this is correct. It is dense, in that there is something on every page, and it provoked the following thoughts: 1) What the hell is this? 2) I need another gin and tonic, and 3) I can sell this on eBay and get my money back. Most of the pictures are blurry, and they are mainly set against a background of illegible, scrawled notes. There are some interesting photos, but because most are printed very small and are against that scrawly background, they do not draw me in and make me want to look at them. There are 13 pages of negatives, and while they DO have interestingly colored frames, they're not compelling.
Here's the thing about 45301: It's not so much a photography book as it is an art book, and I can see it that way, despite my initial disappointment. It's abstract photography and scrawled notes and negatives compiled together to form a piece of art, and that's great as long as that's what you're looking for. But if what you're looking for is Mr. Mortensen's less abstract photography, you should buy Recent Forgeries instead, because that book is fantastic. His Coincidence of Memory and Sign Language are also good, and if you're going to buy any of these three, you should order them directly from Perceval Press (www.percevalpress.com), because it's highly worthy of support (you will also get the books most quickly and inexpensively from them). Recent Forgeries and Coincidence of Memory contain Mr. Mortensen's poetry as well as photography, and to talk about that would be a whole other review, but in a nutshell, it had me taking off my pants. [pssst! that means it's good!]
In conclusion, Viggo Mortensen is a talented photographer, but you probably wouldn't know it from looking at this book. If you want a piece of art in book form, you should consider buying it, and if you're a fan of Mr. Mortensen's acting and are obsessively collecting everything he's ever published, then I guess there's no question but that you will buy it [please seek help]. In either of these cases, it will help if you are at least semi-rich, because to buy this now will cost you anywhere from $65 (what I paid, including shipping from Denmark) to $180 (currently), and if you pay $180 for this book, my review of your financial acumen would have to be "HAhahahahahahaha!"
End Transmission.
PS My wife wrote this in a fit of insomnia at 3:30 in the morning and accidentally posted it under my name. Not too bright, that woman.
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