illex

Roxana Azar

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 10:56:00 -0600

illex welcomes American collage artist and photographer Roxana Azar. Roxana’s work utilizes color, texture, and dimension to explore wide-ranging themes that include perspective, point of view, the nature of identity, and the often opposing relationship between the external world of reality and the internal world of the unconscious.

Please enjoy her work and her interview.

Your work provokes intriguing meditations on the relationships between natural forms and abstract color spectra. This is particular apparent in the images showing the human eyes and the flower petals. Please tell us about your approach to the creation of these photographs.

I created these images to better understand the ways in which my photography merges with collage, an aspect I found intriguing because I used them for very different purposes, and yet the process was still instinctive. It was a strange struggle to realize that I can merge the two by exploring different ways of viewing images and objects. The color spectra isolate the objects and images in the frame, while playing tricks on the viewer —- the objects seem to hover in space, and there’s still dimensionality to them. Physical photographs are really precious to me, so I wanted to push myself to actually fold or rip photographs to study the images. With the petals, I wanted to study the idea of the fragility of an idealized subject. They belong to the same flower but I like the confusing separation of them. They can be either drifting away or towards each other.

Your photos also present intriguing interplays of texture and reality. In the photo of the crumpled eye against the color backdrop, for example, the smoothness of the color field is juxtaposed with the three-dimensionality of the eye. This themes appears to be further developed in your diptych of the chair and the color spectrum, which shows a chair and a pillow interacting with a smooth spectrum of coordinating colors. Please tell us more about these observations.

These are both constructions and obstructions of meanings by the juxtaposition of images and objects, combined with the use of technologies. Color is used to isolate and dissect objects to deceive the viewer of its meaning. In the image of the chair and the pillow, the colors that are extracted from the environment are bright and a little poppy, but the objects themselves are dingy and uncomfortable. The pillow is ripped and it’s the only thing cushioning the wooden chair, so it’s this incredibly flawed comfort. The spectrum is used to wash over the initial idea as a response of denial.

Duality is another theme apparent in many of the images that we have shown. In as much detail as you like, please explore if and how such a theme finds expression in your work.

Layers and duality are crucial in this series. The idea that reality and fiction can merge keeps with this idea of manipulating feelings, which can either hide something or bring it to the surface. I’m trying to understand an unconscious reality versus a conscious falsehood with these layers.

please visit Roxana’s website and flickr for more.

Michael R. Dunham

Mon, 21 May 2012 14:17:00 -0600

illex welcomes American photographer Michael R. Dunham. As an architectural engineer by profession, Michael’s explorations with photography naturally involve those structures found all around us, from buildings and bridges to the structure of the human face. Michael’s photography does not stop, however, at the tangible physical expressions of buildings, bridges, and faces, but ventures into the much more obscure and vague metaphysical world of time, perception, and identity. In so doing, Michael’s work explores themes that lie at the very core of our shared human experience: the frustrating and beautiful condition of living a life that is impermanent and unpredictable.

Please enjoy his work and his interview.

from the series “ Paris, 1949 ”

from the series “ Paris, 1949 ”

from the series “ Paris, 1949 ”

from the series “ New Years Eve, 1946 ”

from the series “ New Years Eve, 1946 ”

from the series “ New Years Eve, 1946 ”

In looking at your series “ Paris, 1949 ”, we are struck by its intense visual presentation. The faraway and otherworldly aesthetic effect of the film leaves a remarkable and memorable impression on the viewer. In creating these photographs, we understand that you used expired film from the year 1949. This powerful concept underlying the series is equally remarkable and memorable. We’re interested in knowing your perspective on the interaction between this project’s concept and its aesthetics.

Conceptually this began as somewhat of an experimental reclamation. I’m interested in the classic aesthetics of both people and objects, which led me to procure several old cameras for which film is no longer made. This isn’t a novel concept, as proven by the bustling trade of old cameras on eBay and flea markets, but I was intent to use the cameras and not just put them on a shelf. This led me of course to the film, which, no longer produced, was only available as expired keepsakes. The beginnings of this project were therefore a sort of proof of life for both the camera and the film; beautiful as objects, but capable of producing even greater beauty when utilized.

Technically this presented a challenge and an opportunity. The camera is old and has limited capabilities but the film was the real wild card since there was very little clue as to how it had been treated the past 60+ years. It was therefore not at all possible to know the film’s speed (not that the camera would have been capable of much correction anyhow). These limitations were actually quite freeing in that they allowed me to focus solely on the composition and subject of the photos. The project’s concept and its aesthetics are therefore tightly connected. The unpredictability of the film required something monumental and powerful as the subject in order to ground it. Something recognizable even when heavily distorted. The architecture of Paris is just such a subject.

Your portrait series, “ New Years Eve, 1946 ”, operates on similar grounds, again using film expired in the year 1946, but this series also possesses a great degree of complexity and nuance. We notice the following themes apparent in this series: identity, duality, structure, constancy, tradition, and a strong sense of artistic discipline. Please comment on these or other themes and please also tell us about your motivation in creating not only this series in general but also its precise presentation.

You identified identity and duality and for me those are the main themes of this series. Two photographs were taken of each sitter. One is a full bust with the subject’s eyes open and one is only the face with their eyes closed. The first is a representation of the subject’s outward appearance and the identity that they wish to project for others to see. We’re of course farther away from them in a physical sense, but also emotionally. We see their clothing (facade) and their pose. The second shot is much more intimate and strips away some of the facade, but interestingly, only as much as the subject will allow. In some cases that is none. We don’t learn anything more about the person because they choose to stay closed. In most cases however, one gets an entirely new sense of the person. Their guard goes down with their eyelids and new traits appear. Nobility, pain, ease, comfort, coyness, happiness, eagerness. All that and more is present in their faces when they allow us to see it.

The idea to take the portraits with the subjects’ eyes closed occurred to me during a lecture by the photographer John Dugdale, who said that we are more apt to study someone’s face in a photograph if their eyes are closed. The thought being that they’re not staring back at you. The idea of a photograph looking back at you seems silly at first but I think that after viewing the portraits of people with eyes closed you begin to get a sense of what he meant. There is a certain calm when looking at the photos that isn’t there with the traditional busts. It’s voyeuristic, but with what seems like the subject’s eager approval. I think it’s an extremely powerful style and I’m thankful to Mr. Dugdale for the idea.

In both of these series, you have exhibited a certain level of risk-taking, in that the film you use may have in fact expired beyond the point of usability. The dedication you have given to both of these series without prior assurance of any degree of success is impressive. Were you concerned that the fruits of these labors may have been unrealized and how did that concern factor into your overall process of creation?

Every step you take away from digital photography is a step towards unpredictability. This was an extremely difficult thing for me to do at first (my chosen profession requires a high level of precision and predictability) but after seeing the results of the Paris pictures I embraced unpredictability as a feature, not a bug. In some rare cases there are things you can do to ensure results. For example with the portraits, I developed three test shots to be sure that I had the correct exposure. This was only possible because I had four rolls of 35mm film from exactly the same batch of 1946 stock, which had been stored together for its entire life. Not exactly a common occurrence! The bulk of this project uses medium format film where test shots are not possible. I therefore have to take the good with the bad. I recently traveled back to Paris in the winter with the intention of recreating a couple of the photographs but with bare trees instead of full foliage. The film was actually “newer” (1955) but after developing it all I had was a black sheet of cellulose with no visible images. At first it was heartbreaking but upon reflection it made the images that I have managed to realize all the more special.

please visit Michael’s website for more.

Amandine Freyd

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:31:00 -0600

illex welcomes French photographer Amandine Freyd. Through an instinctive expression of light and color, Amandine creates diptychs and triptychs that possess a tranquil sense of poetic harmony. Hers is a refreshing vision of beauty and possibility.

Please enjoy her work and her interview.

Your diptychs and triptychs are very intriguing. You present images that contain harmonious and beautiful imagery. Please discuss the combination of these works, how these images engage with one another, and how they are, in a way, looking upon one another.

My diptychs and triptychs are made of photographs combined either according to an aesthetic concept or because of the atmosphere that their light conveys.

They are not a series, but several pictures put together to create new room for interpretation. I like the idea that images can meet and even confront each other. Face to face, they grow beyond the frame into a new scope, gaining new shades.

Themes apparent in your work include light play, homeland and homecoming, and greenery and foliage. Please discuss your interest in these themes or any others that you would like to mention.

I am a romantic, and such is my photography. Terribly so.

“Romanticism may foremost be the desire to unite with the forces of nature while hoping to be led and even absorbed by them.”

My photographic practice is instinctive, almost primitive. I am attracted to free forms of nature such as the wilderness of an English garden. I seek to combine a form of poetry with the ordinary world. Light is the main character of my pictures. Its different shapes outline the writing of their script.

Please visit Amandine’s Website and Flickr for more.

Harold Diaz

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 20:00:00 -0700

illex welcomes American photographer and collage artist Harold Diaz. Harold’s work explores new relationships emerging in our contemporary world, from our evolving connection with nature to the effects of machine technology on human experience and human perception. Harold’s collages possess an aesthetic quality that is equally disquieting and fascinating while also conveying an overall tone that is equally serious and satirical.

Please enjoy his work and his interview.

In looking at the first four collages shown above, we are struck by thought-provoking themes of technology, computerization, and the overarching progress of machine capability and its effect on the contemporary human world. A conflict of humanity also expresses itself through these collages, in that the subjects’ faces, traditionally a chief component of human expression, have been concealed and replaced with incongruous and ominous imagery. These collages are fascinating and complex. Please tell us about their creation and your motivations.

I find evolving scientific data a very fascinating thing, mainly because it sheds a light on some unknown realities. But what’s equally striking to me are many of our responses to the data. In the collages I wanted to amplify some obsessions and ideals that pivot on empirical truths. Perhaps they have an undercurrent of conflict because of my own ideals. I initially sought to exploit transhumanist thought as an obnoxious ‘machinic’ movement. The second and third collages were created along that vein, inspired by the writings of Hans Jonas. However after reading recent research and my work with medical machines, other areas were explored. For instance, the fourth collage is derived from studies on the use of brain scans. Current scanning technology is able to visually map a variety of thought processes. I’m quite sure we’re all a bit sadistic within the confines of our heads and yet these results are being considered for use in criminal law for passing verdicts, determining parole and so forth. In the first collage I wanted to work with organic imagery and vibrant tones. I consider the woman in that photo as a humanistic index within the series, a resistance if you will. The image was again partially influenced by my work as a nurse for the critically ill, in which I was heavily dependent on monitors and a variety of machines. I sometimes view the collaged face as a monitor that provides us with other forms of data. I guess she’s my ideal of what it is to be human. She is my empirical truth.

In these images I focused on creating fictional characters. In the first collage I wanted the woman to personify some of the beautiful and horrific elements observable in nature, and to emulate some of the phantasmagoric beauty I see in microorganisms. I was initially drawn to the pattern of the woman’s blouse because I saw in it an opportunity to produce a sort of optical illusion. By framing her ‘face’ with the pale green background color, the graphic pattern of the blouse begins to compete with the colors of her ‘face’ producing a sensation of optical dissonance in the viewer. The use of non-organic images as a kind of mask was central to the other collages. I wanted to establish a theme of mimicry by seamlessly blending the masks with the humans in the photographs.

In the final two collages, you have reproduced within each collage certain elements internal to the image. In the collage of the man examining the electrical meter, for example, the meter and the brick wall have been copied and placed in the center of the image over the man’s head, with the new meter now facing back towards the original meter. In the image of the man kneeling, his arm and torso have been copied and placed over the man in a way that creates a similarly intriguing duality with the the man’s original body parts. These collages likewise possess a complexity and speak to an obscure significance. Please comment on these observations and any other themes related to these collages.

The technique is mainly for a mirroring effect, which I find very useful and versatile. Overall the electric meter collage fits with the response to the first question. I made the image as a mockery of the gullible empiricist. However, working as a nurse I often felt like a gullible empiricist. So in a way the image also became a sort of self-mockery. The last collage was an opportunity to explore the human male form, or at least some preconceived notions of it. It was also an opportunity to work with images of flesh and fur, textures I find quite beautiful.

please visit Harold’s Tumblr and Flickr for more.

Joe Nigel Coleman

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:25:00 -0700

illex welcomes English photographer Joe Nigel Coleman. Joe creates photographs that so strongly express the intensity of the visual image. Russian author Ivan Turgenev wrote in his novel Fathers and Sons, “A picture shows me at a glance what it takes dozens of pages of a book to expound.” In many ways, Joe’s work and his approach to photography epitomize this maxim. In looking at his photographs for much longer than a glance, one can appreciate the ineffable power of the visual image.

Please enjoy his work and his interview.

In the first three photos shown above, there is an overwhelmingly uplifting spirit of adventure. These photographs possess a natural vision of the beauty of the outdoors as well as a strong representation of the human desire to interact with this outdoor world. Please tell us what these themes of adventure and interaction mean to you.

They mean my livelihood; I want to be able to capture what it’s like to experience these places, I want you to feel like you are there too. There is somthing so special about being out there, something that I can’t explain with words, maybe with photos.

Another theme apparent in several of your photographs is that of animal life. In the photograph of the sheep and the photograph of the birds, you have shown groups of animals in their respective natural environments. Please discuss your affinity for the animal world and how that relates to your photography.

I suppose I’m just fascinated by animals in general, why they do what they do, and how they do it. I’m living in London at the moment and pretty much the only wild animals I see are foxes and squirells. The foxes are amazing, I see them most nights as I’m coming home from work. Sometimes I’ll try to stalk them to see what they are up to but they are usually too crafty for me and I end up loosing them. I’m going to try to get a good photo of one before I leave this city.

Powerful presentations of natural rock formations figure prominently in the final two photographs shown above. With these images you have created strong compositions with extraordinary natural light. In the absence of a human presence, these images also speak to the pure beauty of nature. Please explain your own relationship to nature and its inherent beauty.

I’d prefer not to use words to explain the relationship I have with nature but just let my photos do the talking.

Please visit Joe’s Flickr and website for more.

Ben Giles

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:59:00 -0700

illex welcomes English collage artist Ben Giles. With his inventive and imaginative collages, Ben creates unique worlds that challenge the viewer to consider discordant perspectives. Ben’s work possesses those qualities that we search for at illex: experimentation, exploration, a sense of discovery.

Please enjoy his work and his interview.

Many of your collage works possess a strong sense of aesthetic harmony and aesthetic contrast. You have a remarkable ability to match facial structures while also contrasting colors and shapes. We are intrigued by this effort to assemble disparate visual elements. In the collage of the agricultural worker and the surgeon, for example, you have coordinated their facial characteristics while strongly contrasting the color of the two scenes. In another example, the collage of the woman in the jungle and the couple in black and white, you have again matched facial elements while contrasting color modes. With these collages you have created an exciting and challenging world of visual similarities and dissimilarities. Please help us in understanding more about your work.

I started these ”matching/juxtaposition” collages when I found a stack of old National Geographic magazines. This then led to an almost compulsive quest to find old encyclopedias and film autobiographies and postcards simply to have the pictures. In my mind I knew that I would use them for my artwork, and eventually I did.

The original aim of the first few collages that I created, such as the surgeon/agricultural collage and the jungle collage, was to create something in the space of something else, and in doing so I wanted to trick the viewer into believing an untrue thing. I had always been interested by parallel worlds and the subconscious, and this new medium allowed me to experiment with that idea in a broader way. I wanted to think of the idea that at any given place, someone else has already been there, and that any space has already been occupied by someone or something else at least once in the past. Within a given space, a person or an object that is in that space may copy another person or object that was once previously in that same space. These two people or two objects may be separated by a hundred years or may even be in two separate countries, but by combining these temporal and spacial realities, I want to perform a kind of trick, and form a new body and a new face, a combined timeline where I can play with the rules of perception.

As I continued creating these collages, I became better at forming bolder contrasts and more subtle connections. After I began working, I saw the work of John Stezaker, which coincidentally was very similar to my own work in some aspects. This gave me a bit of a push to use this medium of collage to create a stronger body of work. Another influence is a bit of a cliché, but powerful nonetheless: Picasso’s cubist work such as “Weeping Woman” and “Three Dancers” opened my mind to new structures and shapes within the face, to the point where I no longer wanted to even create a familiar juxtaposition .

Other contrasts that are apparent in your work exist beyond pure aesthetics. The figures that you bring together in your collages often exhibit disparities in age, class, culture, occupation, and sex. How do you arrive at these particular contrasts and what do you aim to express through representing them in such a striking way?

One of several ideas that I wanted to achieve was a sense of the future in the making, such as the collage [shown above] of sailors on a battleship on their way to a Pacific island melded together with a native tribesman resting on a hammock.

I admit that maybe 1 in every 10 collages I create is simply by coincidence. Two images may simply happen to be next to each other and the opportunity is too good to ignore, and the piece is created in two minutes. Other times I will painfully sift through hundreds of images and finally find what I want after about an hour or two or sometimes even a week later.

I love the combination of the nun and the young girl carrying a baby [shown above] and the child and mother with the man with pigs [shown above]. Each person has their own world which is miles away in both distance, time, feeling, lifestyle, quality of life, work, etc. Yet in these combinations they can appear similar, whether its the man with a pig in his arms and a pig by his feet, or the mother carrying her baby with a child at her feet

I am now currently experimenting with limbs and the continuation of bodies, like a never ending staircase or a tangle of arms and legs during sex. I want each piece to feel natural, yet sharp and obvious. I want people to initially “feel” when they see the combination, to catch, however brief, an emotion or memory that never existed or has never been felt. After a while I want the viewer to then start working out the piece, whether thinking of the contrast in cultures or the occupation of space. This process can at times feel uncomfortable to the viewer, yet it’s hard to describe why.

Please visit Ben’s Flickr and Cargo for more.

Sebastian Reiser

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 18:06:00 -0700

illex welcomes Austrian photographer Sebastian Reiser. Sebastian’s work expresses an immediate calmness and simplicity, while at the same time exhibiting a compelling range of underlying complexities. Through a series of disarmingly quiet and complex images, Sebastian inspires wonder, exploration, and the search for understanding.

Please enjoy his photographs and his interview.

Many of your photographs invite the viewer to engage in certain actions and thoughts. In the photo of the milk-filled glass, for example, we are invited to ponder and possibly to solve the problem of a glass filled to the brim. Even a slight movement will lead to disruption. In another example, the photo of the tiles in the mirror, a pattern of tiles is both created and disrupted by the mirror. The careful composition of this photograph, however, invites the viewer to reconstruct the broken pattern as a whole. The beautiful challenges in these photos are what we find most attractive. Please comment on these observations.

My view is often guided through simplicity and a direct perception on things. Through images I try capturing things that I see, especially the way I perceive them. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don’t. What I find very interesting concerning the image with the mirror is the extended dimension. The milk-jar originated rather by coincidence. Any specific movement would definitely lead to disruption and disorder. Therefore, it’s essential to constantly illustrate a specific silence and simplicity.

Two additional photographs function in a similar way, the photo of the blue chair and blue cup and the photo of the pool ladder. Apparent in each of these photos is a certain duality of action. The viewer is invited to sit in the blue chair and drink from the blue cup as the viewer is likewise invited to step down the ladder and experience the water. Yet the course of action in these photographs is somewhat unknown. The viewer is again not certain how to approach these situations that you have presented. Can you help us to understand these pleasant tensions?

It illustrates desolateness in certain moments. You could call it Silence or The Moment After. Possibly, this action could be carried out by a person who enters the photo’s view one minute before it is taken. Sitting on a stool drinking coffee. Stepping down a ladder into the sea in order to go for a swim. I find this type of observation very interesting and it is often reflected throughout my photographs. I often wonder about its effect if the person still resided in the picture. Probably, my focus would change. I really like this train of thought.

Your photograph of the wooden ladder in the field is particularly impressive in that it represents the most striking conundrum of all the photographs we’ve discussed. In the image we see a ladder that appears unsupported and that leads to no apparent destination. The viewer is again immediately engaged with the world of the photograph and invited to make sense of its apparent incongruence. In addition to being a sublime example of visual tension, this scene also inspires an array of emotional responses: desolation, futility, perseverance, hope, fate, amusement. Please tell us more about this photograph.

When observing the photo you first ask yourself how it is possible to capture a ladder like this. Thus, you are directly confronted with photography. The structure of the image is very simple and the multi-dimensional deep background that expands beyond the trees triggers a 3-dimensional illusion that evokes emotion. Shortly after I had published the photo on flickr I received an e-mail expressing gratitude for reviving a childhood memory. In her childhood there was a time when she dragged about a small self-made ladder in order to climb into “different worlds”. In my view, this is an extraordinary beautiful idea.

In a continuation of these themes, we also notice the pure aesthetic beauty of the gas station. In this photograph we see crisp planes of light, vanishing perspectives, and strong blacks and laser-like reds. In opposition to the classic visual appeal of this image is the contemporary subject of the polluting gas station. This photograph presents opposing relationships between black and red, between the light of the station and the dark void of the night sky, and between the visual beauty of the image and the potentially harmful nature of its subject. What is your interpretation of these opposing relationships?

In this image there is a very strong calmness too. I think everyone of us has at some point passed a gas station at night. I find the contrast between light and darkness very interesting. Complete darkness with a lighting that only shows a small section. Surrounded by pitch-black night. You encounter some kind of safety and security against the darkness; in the background the red-lit road that indicates movement. Despite the unnaturalness of a gas station, this photograph demonstrates that in this context it can evoke a peculiar beauty.

Please visit Sebastian’s website and Flickr for more.

Michael ten Pas

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 13:07:00 -0700

illex welcomes American photographer Michael ten Pas. Michael’s photography explores the intersection of reality and perception, and in doing so, his work possesses an irresistable sense of discovery.

Please enjoy his work and his interview.

From the series “Somehow Familiar”

Your photos display an acute attention to the arrival and shape of light. In the first photo shown above, you have observed the interplay of two planes of light. In the second photo shown above, you have observed the interplay of light on two individuals. In each photo, the arrival of light in a certain place at a certain time captures the viewer’s imagination. With these two photos in mind, please tell us how you approach this interplay between light, place, and time.

The interplay between light and forms is important to me because it’s a physical phenomenon that embodies a conceptual theme I’m attracted to, which is the interplay between oddity and normality. When we think of light, we get an idea of what it’s like. When we think of objects, we get ideas of those too. We can conjure up ideas of what is odd and what is normal, but when those things collide in the real world they become dramatic and we can experience them in new ways. Light falling from the sky and landing on the earth is pretty much the most common, normal thing you could think of or experience. But often times, it’s not until light interrupts our expectations that it grabs our attention and therefore becomes significant to us. Whether it’s a corner of a building or people walking in the woods, having expectations about what something in the world looks like has a way of rendering it invisible. By capturing light and space intersecting in dramatic ways, I want to give form to the unexpected nature of a banal world.

In the photograph of the wolf on the wallpaper and photograph of the hands and eggs, the viewer notices a complex combination of colors, shapes, patterns, and objects. The combinations seem to comment on different levels of reality. In the photograph of the eggs, the viewer see two sets of hands, one more real than the other, and in the photograph of the wolf, the viewer again sees two levels of representation, the floral wallpaper and the image of the superimposed wolf. The photograph itself furthermore serves as a third level of representation. Please provide some remarks on these observations.

So much of what we know about the world around us is conveyed to us through pictures. That’s fine. There’s so much I wouldn’t know about the world if I didn’t see it in print or on a screen. Many pictures I see are actually very pleasing to look at. They can be informative, evocative, or entertaining even without being real. But another aspect of the world conveyed to us through pictures is that those pictures are often bold, graphic, loud, and overwhelming. The photos of the eggs and the wolf are meant to be playful engagements with pictures. They are also meant to reintroduce subtlety into the world of pictures. This is why I approach them as optical illusions. An illusion requires a little reality, a little fantasy, and subtle movement back and forth between the two to get the viewer to suspend disbelief. The suspension of disbelief is important with photography because the technology is so accessible – many viewers will look at a photo and try to think of how it was made more than the content of the image. Making a playful optical illusions out of the images I encounter in the world is a way to highlight, but also enjoy, the absurdity of the picture world around us and make it curious and inviting. Pictures might saturate the world around us, but that picture world can also contain a lot of things to discover. I believe the best way to experience it is to be able to approach it as opposed to being invaded by it.

You have commented previously on your series “Somehow Familiar,” which you have described as the photographic record of the return to your hometown of Atlanta after a number of years away. You encounter and capture previously familiar places that have become unfamiliar during the period of your absence. Please tell us how the photo of the housing behind the roadside fence represents this experience.

Walls and fences are a pretty common visual connection between many of photos in that series. It is the nature of the subject matter. During the suburban development of that area, everything was being obscured and obstructed by walls and fences. The subject matter of that body of work could easily send someone down a depressing road. There is always a sense of loss felt when you encounter something that is not recognizable and no longer matches what you remember. Certainly some of that made its way into the pictures. But from the very beginning, my goal was to convey more than just that feeling with the work. That’s one of the things art is all about. It’s about finding new and complex things and seeing a new perspective.

When I talk about this particular photo I have to get a little anecdotal. I was shooting the pictures for that series with a 4x5 camera which can be very time-consuming to operate. I had packed up all the equipment after taking some uninteresting photo of a strip mall when I was walking back to my car and I saw the sun setting behind that fence. My legs pretty much froze and I had to unpack that heavy camera and set it all up again as fast as I possibly could because the light was fading very fast. It sounds simple and cliché but it was the beauty of the moment that compelled that photograph.

For the last part of this question I have to steal the words of Robert Adams because he says it much better than I can. In the Winter 2009 issue of Aperture Magazine, he was talking about the very grim nature of modern suburban landscape photography. He goes on to say, “Are there scenes in life, right now, for which we might conceivably be thankful? Is there a basis for joy or serenity, even if felt only occasionally? Are there grounds now and then for an un-ironic smile? Every artist and would-be artist should, I think, recognize a responsibility to try, without lying, to answer those questions with a yes.” Those words mean a lot to me, and they are something I try to carry with me when I take photos.

please visit Michael’s website and Flickr for more.

Beth Hoeckel

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 14:33:00 -0600

illex welcomes American artist Beth Hoeckel. Beth works with photography, paint, collage, and mixed media to create images that challenge the distinction between reality and imagination. In its powerful presentation of mystery and metaphor, Beth’s work possesses an original vision that speaks to one of us and all of us.

Please enjoy her work and her interview :)

VOID

REALMS

RIPTIDE

SPACE STATION

INDIAN SUMMER

GLACIAL

Many of your collages and mix media works include faceless figures—figures whose faces are either obscured, distorted, or turned away from the viewer. The figure in VOID, for example, most typically represents this common element, as the figure lacks a face and in fact lacks a physical wholeness. Please tell us more about this.

I generally don’t reveal faces or expressions because then there’s no mystery left. It gives away the punch line. I prefer the figures in my work to retain a certain level of anonymity, allowing the viewer to project their own feelings and emotions.

VOID, however, is a little bit different- I consider that piece sort of a self portrait. Not necessarily of my likeness, but of a moment in time. A portrait of a feeling.

Another theme apparent in your recent work is that of connectivity. In REALMS and in RIPTIDE, we see connected objects and images. In REALMS, you have created two acrylic objects that are connected by a partial human figure; in RIPTIDE, you have created two partial human figures that are connected by an acrylic object. What do these connections mean to you?

REALMS is about delving into the unknown. Curiosity, exploration, escape, change. Touching the void. A thirst for knowledge. Reaching into a new place in your mind. Whether it be a place of darkness or light—the quest is what is important.

RIPTIDE is more about wanting to escape, wanting to be carried away, but being held back. It’s about the unknown force that bonds two human beings together and the current that can tear them apart. Taken literally, a riptide is a force in nature that can cause one to be swept away against their will. Figuratively the piece is about love slipping away. Love and loss, longing and sadness. The river that exists and flows between two souls in love is the same river that can carry one away from another in the natural flow of existence.

Your work SPACE STATION is very arresting. We see again human figures that are faceless to the viewer, yet in this case the viewer sees the object of their gaze, a faraway moon in the distance. Two similar works, INDIAN SUMMER and GLACIAL, mirror these unifying motifs of distant gazes, obscured figures, and otherworldly constructed elements. Please comment on any or all of these motifs.

“Death is always on the way, but the fact that you don’t know when it will arrive seems to take away from the finiteness of life. It’s that terrible precision that we hate so much. But because we don’t know, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens a certain number of times, and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that’s so deeply a part of your being that you can’t even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more. Perhaps not even. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless.” — Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky

please visit Beth’s website, Flickr, and Cargo for more work that evokes and transports.

Marlon Kowalski

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 12:00:00 -0600

illex welcomes German photographer Marlon Kowalski.

Please enjoy his work and his interview :)

Watch

2010, from the series “ Projections ”

Daylight Green

Geometry

In your photo “Watch,” there is a fascinating contrast between the clock and the bed of pinecones. Topics that come to mind are color, texture, depth, movement, time, sound. Please tell us more about any or all of these.

Any references to physical properties are not totally random in these pictures. I do that not intellectually-motivated but basically emotionally. This means that I don’t build a theory about “time” or “temperature” or “color” and then construct pictures according to those concepts. I rather play with them as synonyms or virtual elements and then try to just catch the moment when an interesting result seems possible to me. That random or “snapshot” factor is highly important; it guarantees results that deviate from a pure scientific logic that would otherwise be very boring to me.

I think that playing with physical entities like “form”, “structure”, “depth”, “light” is a general theme in picture taking or painting. More or less, photographs or paintings are always trying to give an idea of how our senses transfer picture elements into (would-be) reality. Pictures are never real, no one will object to that. But humans always try to interpret them as real. This rule even applies to (would-be) totally abstract pictures. Observers always search for depth, light, dimensionality in abstract paintings or pictures. In photography specifically, it is a special feature that photographs always and constitutionally do reflect reality; they result directly from physical and chemical reactions of what reality is. Without the tension between the interpretational search for real aspects and those separate photographic elements that alter that interpretation and that perception, pictures aren’t interesting as art. they might work only as documentary. And documentary is not what I personally look after. In other words, I value ambiguity in photography. I look for this kind of interpretive tension, looking to understand how the interaction between (would-be) reality and (would-be) mind is operating.

Your series “Projections” includes a photograph of a human image projected onto the needles of a pine tree. The interpretation of the face’s expression could support a range of possibilities, from frightened to contemplative to regal. What does this face mean to you?

This is a good example for what I mentioned above. This face or what it expresses is sort of random, full of tension, and far from being unambiguous. It’s very fun for me to decode it in the way you actually did. I definitely chose a version of that photograph that is lively and allows for the most interpretive possibilities for the viewer. In combination with the (random) optical deconstruction via the wooded background, the photograph provides room for different thoughts about the facial expression but also about the folding and coding of space, ideas that are general guiding principles in photography.

The ancient Greeks admired the geometric beauty of the rectangle. Your photograph “Daylight Green” is composed of a rectangle that is itself composed of three squares. How does geometry factor into this photograph’s creation and meaning?

“Geometry” might be a misleading concept here. Within the “geometrical” elements of this picture, within the squares, there is also some really complex structured image information. You will notice that this painted green area is not really homogenous and immaculate, as painted areas never are. The geometry of a picture is defined only by its frame. Most pictures have rectangles or even squares as outer barriers and all the picture information lies within those borders. So, references to geometry are not a search for harmony or beauty in my photographs. They are an attempt to escape from the pure flatness of pictures, from the uniformity of empty spaces, from the deadly dullness of documentary views.

You explore notions of shape, color, and contrast further in your photograph, “Geometry.” Tell us what inspired you to create each photograph and to finally join them together.

This photograph represents an attempt to direct the viewer’s thoughts and feelings: geometrical elements in a picture are probably more about what is in your mind than what is in reality. Both of these pictures have geometric elements in them that appear to have some sort of motion. But in both pictures, these elements are only geometric. If the viewer considers the flatness of the picture’s surface—and the viewer in fact might not consider that—then the viewer will see what is especially applicable to these two photographs. Viewers might look at these two photographs as deep, not as flat. This ambiguous and anarchic aspect is (hopefully) entertaining and thought-provoking for the viewer in that same way that it’s fun and weird for me.

Please visit Marlon’s website and Flickr for more.

Benni Pause

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 11:57:00 -0600

illex welcomes German photographer Benni Pause. Benni is now studying psychology in Hungary, and his photography is influenced both by his travels and his academic study. Benni creates beautiful images with focused and careful consideration.

Please enjoy his work and his interview :)

untitled

Picturesque My Heart #11

untitled, from the series “..”

Picturesque My Heart #3

In your photographs you often feature a strong compositional element anchored in the center of the frame, such as the photograph above of the house in the snow. Tell us why you are attracted to such compositions and how you created this particular photograph.

The composition of this photo and of others is influenced by a few things. Since I started to take analog pictures with medium format cameras, I was always interested in the square frames which give me a certain range but also a strong limitation in structuring a picture. Putting things in the middle of a picture is of course connected to my interpretation of a scene. The central placement emphasizes the objects I’m interested in. For me it’s about giving a picture kind of compositional balance.

Another thing that developed my way of composing pictures and centering objects in a frame came through my psychological studies. The issue of perception has been a psychological theme over the last century. The question of how we can get a three-dimensional impression of the world out of a two-dimensional physical input on our retina. It’s more than just the transformed information of light coming across neurons. This visual information of the physical world is transformed, analyzed, and processed in our mind in unique individual ways. It is a question between physiological processes and the subjective impression we get from what we see.

I read a lot about picture memory. I am interested in topics like colour and structure and evolutionary categories which are important for the meaning and interpretation of an image. The picture of this house was taken last winter in southern Germany, when I drove in my car along some snowy roads. It is a kind of mixture between a natural scene, like a horizon, and a “man-made” scene like this house. You can understand the essence of this scene even if you only see the thumbnail in the size of 30x30 pixels. This is connected to our enormously huge picture memory. I am still very interested in these topics. So I think a lot of my photographs are more influenced by things I read, which are not directly connected to the topic of “photography.”

In “Picturesque My Heart #11” you’ve shown us a scene of architectural lines interacting with lines of light. What were the steps that led to the composition of this photo?

The picture was taken in Salvador, Brazil. I like the combination and the contrast between the moving, warm light which crosses those simple architectural, static, and hard lines to make the scene more beautiful for me. Because I lived there for some time, I had time to see the place at different times during the day and night.

In your series “..” you capture objects suspended in air. Can you tell us about the genesis of this series? Do the items themselves, which include clothing, containers, and electronics, have particular artistic significance for you?

I was quite bored of my surroundings and the place I lived the time I started to take this series. My environment became more and more interesting for me as I took things that surrounded me in my normal life and put them out of their original places. Because I love analogue photography, it always takes many tries before I get the picture. If I used Photoshop to manipulate these pictures, it would lose the connection between the film and the objects. Like I mentioned before, there are a lot of interpretations and motivational aspects important for what we see. Everyone has a prediction, an expectation about situations and circumstances which are influenced by experiences or laws of nature. The objects which seem not to be influenced by gravity create an absurd situation which make them more recognizable than in their normal surroundings or in their existential orientation. The objects themselves have a more personal meaning than a general artistic significance for me.

Your photography depicts scenes from all over the world. Your photo “Picturesque My Heart #3” shows a scene from the country of Brazil. You’ve also been to Thailand, China, Latvia, Romania, South Africa, New Zealand, and you’re now in Hungary. How have your experiences been to photograph in these different countries?

My experiences have all been really positive. At the end of my world trip I was quite afraid that my backpack could be stolen or gets lost within all my film (and months of carrying them around the world). But after three months of traveling I was lucky when I met a photographer from Switzerland who took some rolls of mine back to Europe. I think the difference for me lies more in the way you travel than in the countries themselves. You can travel and have your camera just with you or you can travel to take photos. You don’t get the same impressions of a country or a place when you are too focused on frames. I saw so many interesting places but I didn’t have the time to explore them enough to take a photo. To other places I went, I was really focused on taking pictures and getting the mood or my interpretation of this situation which obviously takes more time. For me it’s about creating a personal timeless memory of places I’ve travelled to. I always return to this situation, when I see the pictures.

please visit Benni’s Flickr for more thoughtful and beautiful photographs.

Hollis Brown Thornton

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 09:54:00 -0600

illex is delighted to welcome American artist Hollis Brown Thornton. In working with a wide variety of media, from photography to acrylic to marker, Hollis explores memory, identity, reality, science, and origin.

Please enjoy his work and his interview :)

VHS (screen print on paper)

Secrets of the Sea, Version 1 of 5 (pigment transfer on paper)

Sunset On a Wall (acrylic, pigment transfer on paper)

Colors That Don’t Exist (permanent marker on paper)

You’ve said in your artist’s statement that VHS tapes represent outdated things that continue to exist, are bound to us by their initial value, and are now wound up in habit, nostalgia, or loyalty. In working with ideas and images of nostalgia and memory, such as VHS tapes of the past, is there something that you are being be loyal to or something that you would like us all to be loyal to?

Not at all. I’m against loyalty to a belief system or idea from the past. If anything, it is a criticism of how people grow up in an environment, surrounded by certain habits or beliefs and they somehow feel that is the only way to be. The VHS tapes are a form of self criticism. My dad was about to throw them out and I had to keep them. I grew up with those things and I can’t let go, even to this day. In other words it is identifying in myself the same weakness that I see in others.

In Secrets of the Sea, there appears an outline of a boy in solid red shorts. We the viewers can feel that he’s there, we can know that he’s there, but we cannot see him exactly. In bringing this boy to us, what feelings do you wish to provoke?

Science works for me because it is empirical, based in observation, learning, and experiment. So I’m inclined to believe the scientific idea that we all evolved from tiny organisms that originated in the ocean. Yet I’m also completely capable of believing something different if discovered otherwise. So with Secrets of the Sea, we came from the ocean and we’re made of water. Erasing the figure implies that we’re temporary. The squared-edge lines coming out of the figure illustrate how we are becoming more and more intertwined with digital reality.

In Sunset On a Wall, can you tell us about the negative space you’ve created?

The erasure in that image connects the two figures, representing our dependence on and desire to understand things happening around us, as well as our dependence on others to learn. That also hides the identities of the figures, letting them be anyone. And finally, it is a fragmented, incomplete image, representing the incomplete nature of memories as well as the fragmented nature of the figures in the image, giving them that inherent motivation to understand their surroundings.

In Colors That Don’t Exist, you show us a UFO with the words “I Want to Believe.” Are you equating a UFO with memory, and is memory as make-believe as a UFO?

I think to believe in anything you have to somehow want to believe. People believe a wide array of things throughout history that explain the world. It is that leap of faith people take. I want to believe in science because it attempts to self-correct itself. As for memory being make-believe as a UFO, it definitely has the vague quality of the UFO. I think, like a lot of beliefs, a UFO fills in the blank of a question we can’t answer. Memories fill in the blank of a gone past. Sure a lot of things in our memories happened. But there is also the idealizations that happen over time, slanted by how we want to remember the past.

please visit Hollis’s website and Flickr for more exploration of material and meaning.

Thomas Albdorf

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:15:00 -0700

illex is honored and pleased to welcome German photographer Thomas Albdorf. Thomas’s work displays an artistic drive that engages and enlivens the creative spirit.

Please enjoy his photographs and interview :)

Spraypaint Horizontal, from the series “Lucent”

3 Circles [Blue], from the series “Objects”

Silver Diagonal [tape on wood / stone], from the series “Diagonals”

Bicycle Wheel [Ode to Marcel Duchamp], from the series “Sculptures”

In your series Objects, what is the significance of placing man-made geometrical objects in a natural setting?

About one year ago I wasn’t pleased with my current photography, I had the feeling that most of my works lacked something that I couldn’t specify. That’s when I started my “Objects” series, where I placed simple geometric shapes like circles, cubes, and rectangles in places that are usually associated with secluded romanticism, mainly the woods.I had this idea when I discovered John Baldessari’s method of appropriating found photographs via sticking simple dots on the faces of people in photos. I simply transferred this method to the actual place where the photograph is being taken in order to disorganize it. Very similar to Baldessari’s collages, those simple objects that I create are supposed to work as acts of interference that create a moment of disturbance, uncanny yet absurd; due to their geometrical simplicity they function as a counterbalance to the highly textured, dense structures of the surrounding woods, and in addition the artificial geometrical shapes are not repeated within the surroundings. I chose the woods as the environment for most of my interventions mainly due to the fact that these places are rarely confronted with human presence, and pretty much never with art. Secondly it is very unlikely that someone disturbs me while I arrange the settings. I think I couldn’t create those interventions in an urban environment.

How important is color to your work? In “Spraypaint Horizontal” for example, what is the relationship between the bright pink of the horizontal and the surrounding browns and greens and blues?

I always loved the combination of more unsaturated hues with one bright color. I still use it‚ for example‚ most of the time in my graphic design. When I started the interventions in the woods, I noticed that the objects I used had to set themselves apart from the environment. Shape and color had to be more recognizable. So using a similar color composition for the scenario in front of the camera felt natural. What color I choose for a specific situation or object is influenced by many factors, I’m pretty sure most of them are mainly subconscious. I’m aware that I always try to use very basic colors that will not be repeated excessively in the surroundings. But what exactly contributed to the pink of “Spraypaint Horizontal”, I’m not sure

In “Silver Diagonal”, the connection between materials and lines is both confounding and enlightening. How did you come to create this photograph?

This very simple sculpture was triggered by my preoccupation / fascination with Dan Flavin at the time I created it, although the actual photo has nothing to do with Flavin’s “Diagonals”, their only similarity being the diagonal itself. I wanted to work with duct tape because it’s compact, light-weight and therefore easy to carry around, so it seemed a perfect material to create fast and simple interventions. In the title and the caption I tried not to hide anything, I wanted to give concrete information about the materials used‚ similar to an explanatory text you would find for every other sculpture. “Silver” refers to the factual color of the duct tape, “tape on wood / stone” lists the other materials included. On one hand this method ironically plays with the discrepancy between a “regular sculpture” (whatever that may be) and my diagonal that only persisted for a few minutes, was deconstructed afterwards and now only exists in a photograph. On the other hand I wanted to clarify that I’m serious about this photograph, that, for me, it works as an actual sculpture.

For your series Sculptures, you assemble on-site found objects into particular arrangements. In looking at “Bicycle Wheel”, can you tell us about the process of bringing these pieces together.

“Bicycle Wheel [Ode to Marcel Duchamp]” is assembled from garbage I found near a highway, directly at the site where I discovered the littered objects. At the time I built it I began to discover the importance of Duchamp for contemporary art on a different level, and his works were (and still are) very present in my mind; as I saw the small bike that was missing one wheel and the white commode, these two objects simply materialized in my head as a hommage to Duchamp’s first-ever Ready-made. All the sculptures I created from on-site found objects so far refer to mainly five artists that work with more or less similar strategies: Marcel Duchamp, Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Roman Signer, and Erwin Wurm (I consciously realized these influences bit by bit weeks or months after I took the first photos).

In creating the arrangements and photographs for your Sculptures series, have you ever surprised yourself by what you’ve found and assembled?

It’s not possible to plan these photographs, due to the simple fact that I have to work with the materials I find on-site. This was a rather frustrating aspect when I started to work, but I recently reached a point where I realized that it is not so much about the materials, but rather about the process of arrangement itself, a trial and error which helps to mix up fixed patterns in my mind – you can compare it to a child playing with building blocks. So yes, ideally I surprise myself every time I manage to built a sculpture that I like.

please visit Thomas’s website and Flickr for more ingenius and thoughtful photography.

Ana Cuba

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 16:45:00 -0700

In the summer of 2009 Spanish photographer Ana Cuba travelled to her childhood home-away-from-home in Corbelle, where she created images full of life and memory. We’ve asked her a few questions about her experience.

Please enjoy her photographs and her interview :)

You’ve written on your blog that your Corbelle series was inspired by annual summer visits to this small Spanish village. You wrote that you often visited Corbelle as a child but only recently did you return with a camera. How have these years since childhood affected the perspective you have now?

The truth is that there are now two “Corbelles” in my head, the one I remember from my childhood, and the one I discovered two years ago with photography. It’s said that photograhy is useful for discovering how the world looks in photographs. Well, I think that is exactly what happened with Corbelle. I needed a camera to see how beautiful is Corbelle, and I’m not talking about landscape, I’m referring to Corbelle as the two houses who belong to my family and make up the most important part of this project. Meanwhile I really see how beautiful has become Corbelle in my mind through my pictures, my family is still surprised about people taking interest in this pictures, which represent something absolutely trivial for them.

While much of your work is portraiture of people, your Corbelle series focuses more strongly on light and place. For you how does it compare to photograph a person or a single room or a ray of light?

The proccess itself is quite similar actually, the difference is that people must be patient with me, a single room not and with a ray of light, it’s me who has to be patient waiting for it.

How do you view a room or a place differently when you have a camera with you as opposed to when you are without a camera?

It’s not about having a camera with me or not, I see things completely different once I’ve taken a picture of them. I have to take pictures of a room to get to know how will it look in the picture.

what do you find most rewarding about photography?

I don’t really know…maybe I still have to find it.

please visit Ana’s Flickr and website for more vibrant photography.

Bez Uma

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 17:38:00 -0700

Bez Uma creates with a quiet intensity, capturing moments of lasting resonance. please enjoy his photographs and his interview :)

“nowhere girl” is a title you’ve given to the second photograph that appears above. there is a beatles song titled “nowhere man.” Is this photograph an interpretation of that beatles song? Perhaps a female response?

Of course, this is an allusion to the popular Beatles song, but I wouldn’t say that this photo literally reproduces the sense of the lyrics. It’s slightly different. The girl in the photo doesn’t want to know anybody. She wants to remain private. Her desire is to stay in her own world; completely unknown. This is her method of defence.

when approaching a photograph, do you observe a scene and then shoot, or do you create in your head first and then arrange for the photograph?

Almost every one of my photos are totally improvised. To put it another way, my plan of action is to have no plan of action. I try to create a special mood that allows you to concentrate on what you shoot but not how you go about shooting it.

hair plays prominently in your photographs. tell us a bit about that.

Well, hair seems to me to be a really magical substance. Firstly, it’s just beautiful. Secondly, it makes us like flowers or trees in that we water it several times a week in a way, don’t we? Some people, mostly men, look like cactuses, others, mostly girls, are like weeping willows. Finally, it’s almost completely useless because we can easily survive without it. I think I like a lot of things that are useless. Hair. Electric tooth brushes. Exercise bikes.

what made you first pick up a camera?

Pure chance I suppose. I just wanted to see how well the camera in my phone worked. That was the beginning of my illness called «photography».

please visit Bez’s Flickr for more magically ill photography.

Emily Callahan

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 19:43:00 -0700

Emily Callahan, our first illex photographer, works with bold and fresh creativity. Please enjoy her photographs and her interview :)

Your work possesses a strong intensity of impression. how were you inspired to create these “shifted” images?

Going into my ways of shifting my pictures really began with the thought of wanting to do something that i had never really seen done before. That thought alone inspired me to start using lines and to sort of transform things in my photos that made the picture seem a little more interesting, that made the viewer look at it in a different light perhaps. I’m really inspired by everything around me. Sometimes a certain word coming from someone else will bring an idea to my head, or natural lines or shapes that i see outside will give me an idea. My inspiration comes from every direction.

If experience forms the content of one’s creations, what has been a significant experience for you and your photography?

I think a huge event that happened for me with my photography was moving from Ohio to Texas in 2007. Here i was with a new climate, new faces, a new perspective. It was all so much to take in and photography became my outlet. I began to have a sense of urgency to take photos and ideas would always come to me. To this day, it has become such a huge part of my life. Shooting with film was also pretty big to me; there’s something so personal and special about it. I think it taught me more about photography and how things work a little better. Ever since then, it’s what i mainly shoot with these days. I just can’t stop!

What do you find most rewarding about photography?

Photography, to me, is the best way to show who i am as a person. It can be incredibly personal, but can be viewed in many different ways by others. It’s so fulfilling; to create something that is your own, and nobody else’s is like nothing else. It’s that thing that puts my brain to work and makes me want to do more and more.

Please visit Emily’s Flickr for more adventurous photography.