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THE ART OF LOOKINGConceptual artist John Stezaker is known for his deconstructed images. Josh Spero examines how he cuts and pastes photographs to change and challenge their original meanings

ABOVE: ‘NEGOTIABLE SPACE I’ (1978)LEFT: ‘MARRIAGE’ (1988-89)

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John Stezaker likes to watch. To the British conceptual artist, voyeurism is not a crime but a technique, maybe even a medium. His new show features early examples of his photo collages and cut-ups that make this interest explicit. “Untitled (Photoroman)” from 1977 gives us a lurid glimpse of a woman in her nightclothes, drawn from a romance pictorial in a newspaper, with a

slash of a couple in flagrante sliced through her. Other works are even titled “Voyeur”.

This is not a matter of sleaze, however, but a fundamental consideration of art and life. In a 2017 interview, Stezaker said: “Our relationship with the world is that of the voyeur; we are trying to reconnect with the world.” If looking is how we understand what surrounds us, then we ought to think about how what we look at is constructed in social, aesthetic and ethical ways – and not take it all at face value.

The way Stezaker does this is by (literally) deconstructing images – especially film stills – cutting and pasting them to see how a new conjunction changes the original meanings. In “Marriage” (1988-89), two film stars are diagonally reattached, creating a personal ▶

LEFT; ‘FATHER SKY’ (1989)FACING PAGE FROM TOP: ‘UNTITLED (PHOTOROMAN)’ (1977); ‘UNTITLED (ASSISTED READYMADE)’ (1977)

TO THIS BRITISH CONCEPTUAL ARTIST, VOYEURISM IS NOT A CRIME BUT A TECHNIQUE, MAYBE EVEN A MEDIUM

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◀ tension between them while raising questions of gender and how we digest what Hollywood feeds us. “Mask X” (1982) takes a different approach, with a postcard of a bridge pasted over a film star’s face. This brings out its own face-ness – the space under the arches suggests eye sockets. If we are looking at it, it is also looking at us.

There is a fair dose of humour in Stezaker’s work. For “Negotiable Space I” (1978), he frames a postcard of a train steaming along inside a film still in which a man leans back contemplatively behind his desk – except now it looks like he’s contemplating the train and we’re getting a flash inside his brain. It could be a Hitchcockian train, pounding along with sexual energy, or it could be the world’s most boring daydream. It all depends on how you look at it.

“At the Edge of Pictures: John Stezaker, Works 1975-1990”, runs from October 2 to December 5 at Luxembourg + Co in London; luxembourgco.com

LEFT: ‘MASK X’ (1982)FACING PAGE FROM TOP: ‘UNTITLED’ (1989); ‘TABULA RASA II’ (1983)

THE SPACE UNDER THE ARCHES SUGGESTS EYE SOCKETS. IF WE ARE LOOKING AT IT, IT IS ALSO LOOKING AT US

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