The photography world is largely obsessed with guiding viewers through collections of images and books with the all-powerful “artist statement”. Artists, editors, publishers, and websites (including ours) tend to dive deep into the “why” and “who” of photography in an effort to logically explain why certain art speaks to us and why it is culturally relevant and important. It’s almost as if the why has become more important than the why not. What happened to the art world that we became so obsessed with the meaning behind images instead of enjoying them for the sake of the mere existence or for the feelings they pull out of our mass media brainwashed minds?

Visual artist and analog photographer Mads Madison is here to tell you that if he explained his self-published photobook, Antithesis, it would “close the doors to your mind and kill your creativity”. He is not a hypocrite and owes no one an explanation for the work he creates, and by extension, allows you to use his work as a projection screen for your own emotions and conflicts. His aim is to give you a tool for you to interact with your whole persona by taking a journey into your own unconscious with each viewing of the images contained within his book.

Self-published in December 2019, Antithesis is made up in a large part, by Mad’s series Memories. We originally published a selection of this series in Issue 1 of Analog Forever Magazine; however, this new ultra-small edition book allows his images to shine in a new way. The special edition of this unique book is fitted with a one of a kind chemigram cover and filled with photographs printed on 135gsm paper alongside quotes, statements, and conversations about the art world at large. Among these quotes is one by the German philosopher, sociologist, and psychologist Theodor W. Adorno, who famously stated that: “art is the social antithesis of society, not directly deducible from it.” We would have to agree with Adorno when it comes to Antithesis. Though the materials used are professional, we would consider this project the “anti-photobook”. The details that make this publication so great are the attention to lack of detail, the inherent uniqueness in each copy that is hand-bound with an exceptional neophyte quality that makes you feel like it was made exclusively for you. It’s not perfect, it’s not mass-produced, and every single version is rare because they are all truly works of art in their own right.

The experimental images that makeup Antithesis are examinations of the ideas of false memories, made up moments, inner conflicts and the emptiness that come into our lives via harmful social constructs, such as the desire for beauty and status. They act as a pensive investigation of our inner thoughts derived from social pressure, but also represent Mads’ own view of the art world. As we delve into his book, we see that his work is a stunningly beautiful warning to remain conscious of what we expose to our easily manipulated minds that teases us to break free from the contemporary standards of artistic perfection. Mad’s experiments are fuel for a quiet psychedelic rage that allows viewers to absorb his abstract and cryptic messages present in his images, with the intention of awakening our minds as we contemplate the philosophical implications of the modern world we live in. Contained within the book is a conversation between himself and Keith Mendenhall that dive deep into this topic. We won’t spoil it for you, but an excellent except that captures his resentment of the artistic establish is, “The misconception is the idea that art is done to please someone else. By that, everything depends on the expertise of a second party, further fueled by the idea of capitalism and today’s narcissistic social media consumption. The number of likes, hearts, or numbers on a price tag determine the artistic value. There’s a focus on the outcome, the process is being neglected.”

His book as a whole confronts the idea that the past, of which a large part of society idolizes as a time of perfection and stability, may have been the slow-moving fractures that have turned our current world into fragmented pieces. Though at first glance, his images are strangely beautiful in their manipulated destruction, the presented scenes represent the hard contrast of our alluring first world consumption-based lifestyle and the painful reality that our actions are already creating a shockingly terrifying world that we barely recognize. This is represented by his re-purposed images allowing the original scenes and plots to be rewritten. They shift their original meanings into authentic works of artistic aggression that leave the viewer orphaned with a mix of conflicting feelings and thoughts.

Overall, Antithesis is a handheld experience that can only be taken in via the material world. We encourage you to pick up a copy for yourself and feel what it means to view a photobook that fights against what most other publications try to achieve. It’s not breaking rules for the sake of breaking rules, it’s ignoring that the rules existed in the first place.

Mads Madison: Antithesis

-30 pages

-21 Photographic Collages

-A5

-Edition: 30 Copies

-Hand Bound

-Quotes, Words, and Conversations with: Keith Mendenhall and Nils Karlson

Pick up Antithesis and connect with Mads Madison on his Website!

ABOUT THE ARTIST

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael Behlen is a photography enthusiast from Fresno, CA. He works in finance and spends his free time shooting instant film and backpacking in the California wilderness, usually a combination of the two.  He has been published, been interviewed, and been reviewed in a quantity of magazines and online publications, from F-Stop and Blur magazine to the Analog Talk Podcast. He loves the magic sensuality of instant film: its saturated, surreal colors; the unpredictability of the medium; it’s addictive qualities as you watch it develop. He is the founder of Analog Forever Magazine. Connect with Michael Behlen on his Website and on Instagram!

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