SMART ART

Describing himself as a documentarist, this at first seems wholly accurate, for what Toby Richardson documents in almost forensic detail are the sloughed off objects of others; hard waste, abandoned mattresses and the odd objects that congregate at garage sales.

What is revealed in his elegant images is more than the material; it is the traces of personal histories ingrained in these objects and the patterns and intersections of us as social beings. Richardson’s images dissect these social patterning’s and quirks, all the latent weirdness of the world with the eye of an involved anthropologist. Working in areas deeply familiar he makes them just a little strange, bringing them back to the eye fresh for renewed scrutiny.

In Singles, Couples and Queens Richardson photographed discarded mattresses slumping gently against white walls. Printed large scale, each rip, stain and impression of the sleeping body is there life sized and unnervingly intimate. The oddly beautiful fabrics with their faded Rococo garlands awaken our own memory of comfort in an immediate sensuous response. There is a voyeuristic edge as well as we look for clues to the identity of the previous occupant in every trace left behind. The titles, “what use do I have for it now my Granddaughter has grown up?” (Goodwood 5034) taken from owner’s comments proof that these histories are never abandoned as easily as the objects.

Being in his hometown where he lectures at the South Australian School of Art, Richardson’s intimate knowledge of Adelaide’s particular social geographies has guided the documentation of that rich tapestry of human life known as the garage sale. The images collected over a year comprise a new work, Buyers, Sellers and Dealers to be produced as a book (in collaboration with local design boys, Voice) and exhibited as individual works in late 2009.