ROBERT CLAUS
Pierrot in the Modern World

Conceived as a surreal theatrical narrative in five acts, these environmental portraits were shot in a single session. Our story follows Commedia character Pierrot (played by actor and director Audrey Rumsby), as he tries to navigate the modern world, where he finds himself adrift and alone, at odds with everything around him.

Pierrot enters our space full of expectation, but finds nothing familiar. In the end, he withdraws, forlorn and overcome by the realization of being surplus to requirements.

This parable about isolation reveals the all-too-common experience of everyday life in which the physical presence and relatability of other human beings has been replaced by digital abstractions, and loneliness is the new normal.

But loneliness can also be the result of getting ostracized, sometimes for the flimsiest of reasons. As an artist, I wanted to draw attention to this issue, using the story of Pierrot in the Modern World as a cautionary tale.

Author
An emerging photographer with a background in translation and music,
Robert Claus has been exploring drawing, composition, and theater since an
early age. Born in Germany, he relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area after
graduating from the University of London.
Attending a major retrospective of David Hockney in 2014 inspired him to
return to his childhood love of photography. A self-taught artist, he has since
studied under Gina Militia, and taken workshops and classes from Ed Kashi,
Neal Menschel (both at Stanford), and Joel Grimes (remote).
He tends to draw on still life for his subjects, but has also ventured into
portraiture and landscapes. Now looking to gain wider exposure, he has
produced several book-length curated projects that range from theater work
to abstract still-life composition.

Website
www.clausphoto.art

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