A Modernist Lunchbreak with Clemens Ascher

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Clemens Ascher continues to explore the subliminal effect of colours and repetitive demonstration in “A Modernist Lunchbreak". For this photographic series of six, he took the subject of business people eating their lunches on the go. The abstract spatial compositions are populated by surreal figures, recalling marionettes on a stage.

Inherent principles of both marketing and advertising are continuously used as tools of societal control. With a certain ironic elevation, the series explores the relationship between past visions of a modernist future and contemporary sociological phenomena: people feeling free within a very limited spectrum of acceptable opinions and generated desires, which they can only satisfy by functioning within the system.

Recom Farmhouse worked with Clemens to create the environment of architectural forms, and place the figures within the abstract settings.

To bring such disparate elements together into a cohesive, believable world with a unique atmosphere involved meticulous detail in the compositing. We took care matching lighting, perspective and texture quality to bring together the components of each scene. Subtle cues create connections between the elements - growing some weeds, or crumbling some paint off the walls to lie on the floor.

Finally we adjusted the tones to perfect the artificial and surreal mood.

See how we did it in the 'Behind the Scenes' videos at the end of the post.