The photographs of Marcus Doyle transform the familiar spaces and landscapes of the modern world into twilight zonesnearly surreal, almost alien, yet always recognizable for what they are. Through Doyle's lens, a basketball court, a tennis court, a gas station, a parking lot or a motel swimming pool confront us in the preternaturally calm, deserted hours of the night, illuminated only by their ambient light, devoid of people yet clearly marked by man's urbanizing touch. Doyle's large-format approach, with saturated colors that result from exposures as long as three hours, turns his unstaged tableaux into visions of exalted expectancy amidst man's tendency to trivialize. Indeed, it is as if these easily overlooked spaces are awaiting the arrival of nothing less than an intergalactic mother ship. But Doyle doesn't strive for any rhetorical or ironic effect, although his photographs are rich with aesthetic ironies. Photography, after all, is fundamentally about light, yet for the most part Doyle photographs darkness, painstakingly capturing the fugitive illumination that is always there yet often invisible to the naked eye. Just as ironic is the rigorous absence of human figuration, yet all of Doyle's deserted landscapes have been impinged upon by human development, urban sprawl or feeble gestures that aim to reincorporate the natural world where man has more or less rolled over it.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.