John Stezaker at Whitechapel Gallery

Last week I visited the John Stezaker’s exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in east London. Stezaker’s work involves collages of photographs which create illusory, surreal and often humorous juxtapositions. Each wall in the gallery is devoted to particular themes - including the marrying of famous faces, film stills with missing characters and 1940s beauties with faces hidden behind natural scenes.





The simplicity of the work is its key appeal, and its strong graphic element is at balance with the surrealist humour. After viewing countless Stezaker collages, one does find them somewhat transmutable. Nonetheless, the strength of his visual statement is enough for me to research him further. I look forward to exploring his published work, including Tabula Rasa and Masks.



The exhibition is on at Whitechapel Gallery until March 18.

See whitechapelgallery.org for more details.

All pictures courtesy of Whitechapel Gallery