Courtney Smyth 11/1/09 Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison

This week I looked up Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison. You can find their website www.parkeharrison.com. Their images are divided on their website into three groupings, one of which is The Architects Brother. This is the set that is most intriguing to me. They each sort of remind me of DaVinci's drawings of fantastical machines. Only ParkeHarrison's seem like the experiments gone totally wrong. The photos are very interesting, and seem like you could get tons more info if you could see them large. This series has sort of an old fashioned feel to it. They appear to be in a foggy or misty place, adding to the mystery of each shot. Many of them also incorporate in some way nature, or at least nature in a strange, compromised way. The ParkeHarrisons seem to be playing with the idea of man connected to nature, man trying to manipulate nature. Some of them remind me of Tim Burton movies, like Nightmare Before Christmas. They have a spooky, eerie feel. I found a blog that says they only do 10 prints a year. They do everything by hand, the old fashioned way. They sometimes add paint and bees wax to the final prints. They make all the props and sculptures themselves, and Robert is the character in the prints. I would love to see these up close!