Hollow Existence

The above images are rough test shots from a side project I have right now that coincides with several of my ideas presented for the series 'Sapien Aurum.' For me this project has to do with the creation of a pop-science fiction myth, a society of people engineered, no longer capable of the ability to experience illness, suffering, pain, sorrow. Chemicals exist with in the water system to help aid in the populous' 'well being' as well as keep them numb. What would these people look like? If the experiences that are essential to human development are denied what, if anything, can these people be expected to amount to with such a hollow existence?

Sapien Aurum

rough sketch for senior thesis:

Artist Statement:

Experimentation is key to the development of any society. Curious investigation has always been something that humankind has depended on for our own advancement as a species. The knowledge that can come out of what could be considered frivolous escapades is often the most interesting. Alchemists attempting to find the meaning of life through philosophical discourse as well as physical experimentation. What myths do we as man create? What legends do we inherit and gather? These questions could easily be considered worthless, but we are based upon lore. As someone intrigued by the history of invention and non-convention my practice has been to say 'what if'? This liberal practice resonates in my current work. What are these glowing forms inside this golden orb? Why do they feel familiar? What about this is my own, and what about this have I been told?

I am not here, nor there.

Removal Of Self.

Disfigurement Of The Disfigured.

Assimilation To The Norm.

Disintegration Of The Soul.

Not Here;

Nor There.

Olivier Valsecchi

Olivier Valsecchi is a french photographer I stumbled upon on 500 Photographers. I'm just in love with the images, the lighting is phenomenal; the subjects seem to be submerged in water. The effect the dust is an ephemeral disintegration of the performers (after all, isn't anyone who poses for a camera a performer?).

Tom meeting 1.

Artificiality is my want to dismember and dissect the soul from a person with in a single photograph. I find the notion of a representation of the human form that some how lost its humanity to be a fascinating notion to explore.

Talk 1 with Tom.

Life on The Screen S-Turkel

Donna Harraway

Rembrandt, think about his control of focus on the subject. Rather than disfigurement on an exaggerated scale, allow for subtle blurring and change in focal depth as needed. Look to eyes**

get grey card

1 to 1 scale-printing possibility?

Make a traditional contact print as well as digital.

Remember the bellows factor, also calculate the lens length.

Selenium tone negative for d max -research

Referential Artists From Tom.

Richard Learoyd

Thomas Ruff

Catherine Opie

Rineke Diakstra

Ryan McCulley

A brief summary of my Junior year.

Sentiments on The Void:

‘Sentiments on The Void’ is the idea that emotion exists in a face supposedly devoid of emotion. I have been intrigued by human emotion for a long time and I am curious to see how different people interpret a facial expression that is supposedly devoid of emotion. Emotion is something people seek in a face no matter what the case. It is inherent for us to read emotion, and the human face captivates that in the most sublime way.

By requesting the subjects to give me a blank stare and relax there facial muscles I am opening the door on to how being devoid of emotion still can have emotional undertones, and addressing the question of whether or not a person can be emotionless.

I have shot a variety of people with a 4 x 5 view camera using black and white film and the negatives are scanned into a computer and printed digitally at a scale of 16 inches by 20 inches. The subjects themselves are asked to have an illusion of nudity and to not wear jewelry of any kind, no trace of make-up, and have no visible tattoos. The shots are from the neck up and therefore create a personal, yet disembodied interaction between viewer and art. As the photographer I too feel I am a participant in this series, for I, in a sense, will be the only true constant in the photos; before every shot I say the phrase ‘blank stare’ with the hope that my subjects will focus on the idea, and there thought process as the image is taken will dwell on my words.

Experimentations on Photographic Existence:

A question I often ask myself is ‘what is a photograph?’ From a standard premise a photograph is an image created from light hitting a light sensitive surface. But how does a photograph function? For me the function of an image is to manifest a reality of its own. The image itself is real; it exists. At the moment I am working on the concept of space on a two-dimensional plain, or more importantly, within a photographically made image. I started exploring this question on accident. After developing a blank sheet of 8x10 film I let the developer dry on the surface out of frustration. When I retrieved the film the next morning, there was an intricate pattern of crystals panned across the surface. I contact printed the film, scanned it, and discovered a vast amount of information could be viewed and that I had created an image that not only held trace of its creation, but a something that was beautiful, something I’d never done, a non-representational image. My methods were simple enough in the beginning, take a blank piece of 8x10 film and let d76 dry on the surface. But there seemed to be a lack of control in the image, I wanted these images to be more, to have depth and dimension, an area where the viewer could mentally enter the image and explore. I eventually questioned where could this be pushed, and these are a few of the experiments I produced. Artists such as Sommer, Duchamp, Ubac, Moholy-Nagy, Eric Mutel, Minor White, Bellmer, and writing by Sommer, Dali, and Songtag have been informing me on methods and courses of creation. Creation is the force behind this body of work, which has become a sort of documentation of constructed existences, and the two-dimensional planes they reside on.

Dru Donovan

Dru Donovan is another random find. Love his portraits, lighting is phenomenal. His work reminds me of several 35mm series' I've done recently. Fair warning he has full res images and they aren't organized very well.