Our next book review is of David Brandon Geeting’s Infinite Power. Geeting is a New York-based artist and recent graduate of the School of Visual Arts. His commercial photography has been featured in Bloomberg Businessweek, NYLON and Surface Magazine, among others. Infinite Power is his latest book, published by Pau Wau publications.
Infinite Power is a juxtaposed composition of visual engaging objects, staged still lifes and portraits. There are trees, household items, people’s pets, friend’s faces. Very commonly seen items are displayed both in their solitary, natural states as well as transformed by the other things that occupy their shared frame. Geeting’s personal photographic style is heavily influenced by the clean, commercial work he produces. With very different intents, the images found in Infinite Power encourage the viewer to deeply engage with an object—question it’s use and how or why they see it a certain way. In the books foreword, Christopher Schreck eloquently discusses Geeting’s style, content and the overall editing involved with this book’s creation.
“By demonstrating a fluid relationship between images of various eras and styles… these pages also encourage us to distinguish the underlying sensibilities that are particular to Geeting as a photographer. Formally, he favors vivid palettes and insistent patterns, purposeful framing and physical layering, all rendered in stark contrast through the knowing use of lighting and flash. Aimed straight to the eye, his images are generally bright, bold and heavily textured, immediate and urgent in their visual draw. If we look past these vibrant treatments, however, we also find an artist with considerable sensitivities toward image construction.”
Geeting’s Infinite Power is a meticulously edited book that unifies the artist’s penchant for highly-composed studio images, patterns in excess and a deep focus on the “object.” This swirling combination of variables ultimately allows the viewer to see beyond the object at the center of each photograph. You are pushed to see shapes, colors, Geeting’s ample lighting, reflections, texture, fur, hair, skin. There is a contemplative engagement with each object that might otherwise be passed over. Infinite Power holds strong photographs that actively engage with traditional questions about photography, the artist and the role of the spectator, all bound thoughtfully in an well designed, matte package.
For more from Geeting, please refer to his website.
