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Mervyn Arthur

Profession
BA Fine Art Photography Senior Lecturer
College
Camberwell College of Arts
Person Type
Staff
Mervyn  Arthur

Biography

Mervyn Arthur is interested in the architecture of photographic process, deconstructing the very instrument of photography itself.

His Camera Interior series explores the mechanics behind this device, with Arthur's images at first appearing to depict ambiguous architectural spaces. But clues within these photographs, such as a screw or scratched number, often betray the space's scale and function.

Arthur opens up box cameras in his work, illuminating them with daylight before photographing these using close up lenses and long exposure times. Ideas of virtual expanses existing within simple technological structures, as well as the relationship between real objects and illusionary images, underlie much of his works. Arthur regularly constructs skewed architectural models or transforms product packaging into sculptural arrangements, before further abstracting these works through photography.

Arthur’s work is regularly exhibited in the UK and internationally, featuring at museums and galleries such as the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA, London), Whitworth Gallery (Manchester), Tsinghua University Visual Arts Centre (Beijing) and the 2009 East International.

Links

BA Fine Art Photography