Max Goossens - Weekly Artist Post 8

Goran Bartok
'Requiem'

Goran Bartok chooses a very interesting subject matter to take pictures of, the dead. In many of the portraits that he does, Bartok, shoots his images close up as to only see a portion of the face. Further more, there is generally only one area that is in focus and the rest of the image is out of focus. Bartok also seems to use light and dark as a way to almost frame the pictures themselves, to help the viewer focus on a specific area.
Goran Bartok says that the human bodies for him are no longer people or souls, they are simply objects for him to make pictures of. However he says that death is a very interesting subject matter that he really enjoys. Bartok takes pictures of the cremation of the bodies as well, which opens up a whole new world of photography. Many of the images that he is taking look very surreal and almost sinister.
I find Bartok's work very interesting, not every day to you see the 'dark' side of death. Normally if you were to photograph the dead they would be in a coffin, dressed up in a pleasant manner. When I first saw the images I quickly decided not to write about them, but here I am. There is something that makes you want to look at these images, they are eerily beautiful.