Marton Perlaki (1982 Budapest) is an artist with a background in cinematography and photojournalism. He co-founded Anglo-Hungarian biannual publication The Room in 2004 where he worked as a photo editor until 2015. Perlaki was shortlisted for the Paul Huf Award and is a Foam Talent for 2015. His work appears in the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize in 2015. Marton currently lives in New York. Today we’re proud to share a selection of images from his body of work Bird, Bald, Book, Bubble, Brick, Potato.
Bird Bald Book Bubble Brick Potato, 2014-
A picture has the ability to mislead the mind, opening a door to alternative narratives that exist within the viewer’s subconscious. Marton Perlaki wishes to access these moments of subjectivity and navigate the viewer towards a game of associations. His ongoing series Bird Bald Book Bubble Brick Potato presents a rich array of seductive and zany imagery, drawing principally on two main photographic genres – still life and portraiture of one specific character: Elemer. Perlaki felt immediately drawn to his sculptural and enigmatic, peculiar appearance, as he found his model on Facebook. Yet the photographs of Elemer tells us nothing about the individual, who is in fact a ‘happy family man and a teacher living and working in Szolnok, Hungary.’ What is evinced here is the notion that the reflection of reality reveals nothing about reality. As a sitter, Elemer becomes just another one of the photographer’s props within Perlaki’s playful subterfuge of the conventions of editorial and commercial photography.
To view more of Marton’s work, please visit his website.