PHOTOGRAPHY BETWEEN THE DOCUMENT AND THE WORK OF ART PAČVORK (PATCH WORK) AND INTERPRETER (TOO MUCH) OF PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRANIMIR KARANOVIĆ

Abstract

The question of dualistic value of a photographic document (art or chronicle of time) exists from the very beginning of this media. Within the active artistic pursuit that has lasted for more than 40 years, Branimir Karanović’s opus contains series of photographs titled Pačvork (Patch Work) and Tumač fotografije (Too Much of Photography). Both cycles pose the question of ontological interpretation of the photographic records and it’s correlation to the artistic evaluation of the piece itself. These serials, conceptually formed art pieces, for sure, present photography as a pictogram with dualistic meaning: documentary (witness of time) and conceptually-artistic one. Similarly to the Hockey’s principle, collages and assemblages of the individual photographs construct a new visual area that imposes itself both as extremely attractive composition and as a content that demands the viewer’s analysis and, in this manner, emphasizes the fact that a photographic document does not have to be media-centralized and popular. Recording of ready-mades on the margins of everyday life turns to be valid visual evidence – a document of time and space that, shaped by the author’s conception, becomes esteemed art piece.