Richie Talboy’s work is like a stock image with a complicated and mysterious backstory. His subjects give little away in their expression or demeanour, and it’s hard to gage what sort of time and space the images exist in. The only thing certain is that the images are beautiful, and eerily refined. Stripped back to the point of complete mystery.

Talboy’s subjects range from designer cakes, such as a Prada pound cake and and Jil Sander angel food, to nonplussed looking male models. His images have a clinical certainty to them, a rigorous perfection that means even photo series entitled ‘#photobomb’ are meticulously poised.

In ‘Waiting Room’ a model lounges on office furniture, staring into space. She is posed around traditional office items, such as a water filter and simple clock. One fears she might be waiting in this timeless and placeless office forever. Talboy takes these traditional spaces (such as the aforementioned waiting room) and turns them into abstract locations where it is hard to ascertain what is digital and what is flesh and blood.

With his blurring of the lines between simplistic catalogue imagery and high art, Talboy creates end results that are somewhere in the middle of the two.

http://richietalboy.com/

Words/ Ruby Giles