From The Eye of Photography:
Across Armstrong’s work, recurring motifs of suspension, falling, and solitude function as metaphors for spiritual inquiry and human vulnerability. The early “Mandala” photographs are non-representational images of concentric circles that refer to central themes in Buddhism such as the Wheel of Life and the Map of the Cosmos. In “Renaissance,” appropriated drawings from the 15th and 16th centuries are transformed into lush fields of color, with isolated figures dramatizing and expanding epic themes from the original source material. Other bodies of work, such as “Film Noir,” introduce lone figures drawn from cinematic narratives, suspended in moments of ethical and psychological ambiguity.
Browse the exhibition “Bill Armstrong | All a Blur” at CLAMP
Browse all work by Bill Armstrong at CLAMP