I consider digital imaging and photography my primary medium. The image editing process especially is my favorite thing to do. I feel tireless when I am editing an image I care about. My favorite things to shoot are landscapes and nature. I also enjoy other mediums like digital painting. I do digital photography and make photo montages, using my computer with Photoshop and Lightroom. I have been using Photoshop and a camera for many years, and I only recently got into Lightroom, which I really enjoy. For my other classes, I have made an etching and done 3D modeling that I am pleased with. My favorite part of 3D modeling was editing the final image and making the model seem as if it existed in the space as the photo. I feel like I have just recently identified a style in my work, which can be summarized as altering and abstracting nature. My editing style involves heavily modifying and combining images in experimental ways. I use blending modes frequently, and I like to combine them to achieve unique effects. I am drawn to loosely defined and blurry shapes. Refining this style and finding ways to make it work more effectively is one of the options I see for myself going forward this semester.
Creatively, I find myself drawn to images that bend reality, anywhere from subtly to overtly. As far as motifs, themes, and subjects go, I am interested in a variety of things. I am drawn to the sky, aviation, nature, the female form, long hair, the internet, technology and computers, graphic design, Art Nouveau, anime, sociology, philosophy, psychology, and scientific theories about the nature of reality. The images above were inspired by Plato’s Theory of Forms, and the Holographic Universe Theory. Plato’s Theory of Forms asserts that the physical realm is only a shadow, or image, of the true reality of the Realm of Forms. The Holographic Universe Theory is the theory that everything in the universe is a kind of hologram, based on the discovery that black holes store information on the surface of their spatial boundary. So, it would theoretically be possible to reconstruct something psychically that had fallen into a black hole using the information that gets spread on the spatial boundary, and from there the whole universe could be constructed from information on the spatial boundary of a black hole. In the same way information is spread across the surface of the black hole in the theory, I spread the original photo across itself to create the abstract shapes seen above.
I enjoy both art for art’s sake, and interpretive and symbolic art that has a deeper meaning. Persuading people and sparking discussion is something I am interested in doing with my art. As far as where I want to take my images professionally, I am somewhat unsure. I completed an internship over the summer at Anthony Ziccardi Studios, where I was a photo editor. I found that I really enjoyed working there, so being a photo editor is something that I would definitely like to do, but I want to explore others areas of digital art as well. I also have some interest in the fields of graphic design, and web design. I have very little actual experience with web design and graphic design currently, though they are fields I want to explore in more depth post-graduation. Although I’m not very good, I like to draw sometimes as well.
The theme of nature unifies the majority of my most recent work. While the concepts ultimately diverge, they share some similarities. Some of my digital images and my prints explore how nature is perceived by people on a technical level, and suggests that what we see should not always be taken as truth. The two images pictured above examine the relationship between technology and nature. They have more similarities than people give them credit for, while at the same time being very different. For example, molecules and pixels make up the bigger picture that we observe with our eyes. Whether we are looking at the real thing or a picture, our eyes don’t discriminate, and it’s all information just the same. There’s a lot of art and talk about how technology and nature clash, with technology often being painted in a negative light. The thought of technology as a natural evolution of nature should also be considered more often. Human made is nature made.
My prints focus on color in relation to nature and humans. There is not one universal way of seeing. Color is only visible to us because our imperfect brains can process it. Color appears differently to different people, and the visually impaired can “see” through other means. What is there physically may not be perceivable to the human eye. Some examples are ultraviolet light, and under certain conditions, infrared light. Our moods are another factor that can also affect how we see the world, in a less literal sense. These ideas are expressed in my work by showing the same scene in different colors.
One artist that inspires me visually and technically is Ellen Jantzen. I chose the images above because I either resonate with them or I feel they are representative of Ellen’s style. I like how she assimilates weirdness with reality. Her art makes me feel calm. When I look at it, I think it is very close to some of what I am interested in doing with digital imaging. I also feel like we have the same inspiration. On her website (ellenjantzen.com), there is a quote from Aesthetica Magazine which reads, “Ellen Jantzen unearths new states of reality through digital manipulation. Scientific theories about space, time and the ever-expanding universe provide a starting point for a portfolio which looks beyond the surface to reveal new layers of meaning.” This feels like it could be my artist statement. A lot of her work incorporates one weird element, like the tan mountain lines or the yellow tree lines in the bottom left and top right images, with realistic landscapes. The way she manipulates her photos is traditionally collage-like, but her work is also unapologetically digital. However, her art falls just short of really resonating with me, as I prefer a little more weirdness going on in my images. That’s why the top left and bottom right images resonate a little more with me, as they have more than one weird element incorporated. They feel very static to me and I would like a little more movement in her pieces. I like the movement in the bottom right image. Another reason the images fall short for me, is that I gravitate towards more saturated colors, and the color palette Jantzen typically uses is very subdued. I find analyzing her images very productive because it helps me consciously realize my style and visual tendencies. I may not necessarily know what is going on narratively in each piece, but after viewing it, I want to know, and I think that encapsulates a goal of mine when it comes to my art. The things that I described that make her images fall short of being more resonant with me is where my own art is distinct from hers.
For my BFA project, I want to continue the idea that what we see is not tantamount to truth. I want to illustrate this by abstracting and altering nature. There are so many ideas and theories about our universe that try to propose a possibility for why it is the way it is, or even what it is. Scientists and philosophers have come up with a lot of interesting theories. One possible idea which I have not explored yet is Eternalism, or the idea that all time exists at once. I would like to do more research into what is out there.
Bibliography
Ellenjantzen, Aesthetica Magazine, 2018, www.ellenjantzen.com/.
