FRACTURE
D
istort,
Manipulate, Break, Cut, Fragment, Alter, Abstract, De-construct, Modify, Re-create, Split, Transform, Change, Merge, Revise, Obscure, Transfigure, Fracture...
F
RACTURE, an art publication exploring contemporary artists who use a de-construct/re-construct technique as the basis of their work.Photography captures our world in the truest form,by manipulating real images we begin to question our reality and our sense of meaning. It allows us to strike a new perception of what we have previously viewed.Meet the artists;
STUART RUSSELL
Can you describe the time when you first realised that creating was something you had to do? It is a cliché but I have always been creative. I remember being about three years old; I had an entire wall in my grans kitchen covered in drawings. I used to scribble and make pictures by identifying shapes in the scribbles. I think my family just thought I was slightly alien and mad (this opinion hasn’t changed much at all) but I love everything creative, its extremely vital to my life. Photography entered my life at about six years old. My granddad was a photographer with his own dark room and I helped develop his work. You are particularly inspired by your natural surroundings in Fife; do you believe you would have followed the route of photographic artist if you had grown up in a different environment? I think most artists explore what they see around them and what they experience. I am inspired by nature because it is constant. Living in a growing town I also love urban work but I always seem to work nature into the theme. It’s the only thing that is constant on Earth, but also ever changing. I think if I were living with alternative surrounding, yes my work would be different but photography and art are subjects I am naturally programmed to explore.I think you always have to be honest with your work otherwise no one will believe in you as an artist. So often pretension enters the art world, which is rarely positive, I always say explore what is available to you and worry about being liked when you’re on life support. Why did you choose photography as your medium? Photography has always been around me, as has poetry. My grandfather was a professional photographer and poet, as are members of his family. I also pursue both of these talents and really, I think it’s just in my genes. I instinctively know about composition and I am constantly told I have a great eye. Its nothing to do with the medium, its just a tool I use to explore the world around me. There is honesty in photography and that’s what I like about it. Do you think your art will continue to based exclusively on nature? I think as my life changes my artwork will change, life is about growth and as I grow my work will morph into other things. Not all my work is exclusively about nature but it does seem to be a vein throughout my projects. It always pops up. What inspired you to distort the images in ‘Fractured Fife’? The Fractured Fife series was a hideous mistake in the beginning. I was exploring the changing landscapes in Fife and whilst viewing the images I accidentally overlapped an image. I thought it looked really interesting and took me back to photographic origins. Mistakes would often happened and you got double exposures etc. It took the theme of a distorted relationship with nature to a different place entirely. I pursued it and explored it for quite a few months and came up with the final “Fractured” images. They have been exhibited in every major city in Scotland and also in London. I got letters from HRH Prince Philip and MSP Tricia Marwick about the work. I am so pleased that people got it and understood what I was showing. We distance ourselves from nature and no longer have much of a relationship with it; the relationship is fractured and flawed.
RANDY GRSKOVIC
Can you describe the time when you first realised that creating was something you had to do? I started very young, like most children I had to use my imagination to create things. I started drawing and was encouraged. Since I was introverted, I had a lot of time alone to hone my practice. Once I started school I was encouraged because I had been already practicing at home alone. I didn’t play any sports so I became marginalized as the kid who was good at drawing. I think it really all came from there. As I continued down this path it just became part of my life. By age 9 that is how I was known, as an artist. What art do you most identify with? I identify with Pop Art the most. We are all inundated with advertising everyday and I think it is important to battle against it. I think through pop art we can subvert advertising in all forms and take the power away from it. You use old photographs as a medium in which to distort, how did this come about? Photographs are documents, I look at them like advertising in a way. They are proof that something happened, but what is proof? Photographs sell the idealism of the past. It’s always framed and it’s never a whole picture, just an interpretation. I used to find old photographs to draw from but I decided to cut out the middle man and stopped drawing. I cut them up to distort them now. Are you a fan of any other contemporary artists who use photography/photographs as the basis of their art? John Balldessari uses old photographs and film stills in his work, I think he’s a big influence of mine.
What are you trying to communicate with your art? I want people to reinvestigate the images they see every day. I want them to be critical of noise they have to deal with. Most people say they are not affected by images. This is the biggest lie that advertisers what you to believe. What is your creative process like?It’s pretty intuitive, I find images I’m drawn to and then I make problem solving decisions based on the images. I ask myself why after. Is there anyone you would like to collaborate with? E v e r y o n e . What are you plans for the coming year? I just moved across the country from Vancouver to Toronto (Canada) I’m hoping to expand my perspective of the world.
PEP VENTOSA
How do you feel about de-constructing as an art form? Art, with more or less intentionality, is a re-creation of things or ideas. In that sense I believe there’s a de-constructing process to create any artwork. So the de-contruction/re-construction as an art form is a natural consequence of art making. Why did you choose graphs as a medium in which to Photography has a unique quality: it make lieve that what we see is somehow real. By structing photographs I like to challenge that
photodistort? us bede-conbelieve.
Why do you think photography plays an important part in you work? As I said, the main quality of photography is its illusion of representation of reality, which is unique. The fact of working with photography to create new pictures is essential. The medium is part of the message. What are you trying to communicate with your art? New visual experiences in photography. How important is the role of the viewer in your work? Without the viewer there’s no communication, so the dialogue between artwork and art viewer is indispensable.
DIEGO KUFFER
Why did you choose photographs as a medium in which to distort? My intention is not distorting but changing the way a photograph is conceived. Why should I be obliged to operate in ways stablished by the camera manufacturing company? Why can’t I say how a photo is taken? I don’t feel that photography lets me achieve what I want, so I feel the need of pushing the boundaries of what is called a “regular photo”. Photography, as everything that is man made, is flawed. So, there’s always work to be done, thankfully. What
art do you Photography
most and
identify with? Literature.
Why do you think photography plays an important part in you work? That’s a hard question to be answered. I think that the camera is a great tool for producing the bricks of my work. It allows me to give the touch of reality that I wouldn’t be able to achieve otherwise. What are you trying to communicate with your art? I want to show how life is passing inexorably. I want to help people see the grain falling in the sand clock. What role does the viewer play in your art? I guess photography only works when someone is looking at it. So the viewer is the single most important mechanism.
OLIVIER RATSI
You say the concept of your work is the de-construction of space-and-time landmarks, why does this appeal to you and do you feel that de-constructing is an art form? Since my childhood, my relationship with space and time has always been source of questioning. I’ve always had a deep admiration towards people like Einstein, Newton or Muybridge who contributed to advance the perception of our world. What interests me is to deconstruct the support on which is conveyed the image to leave a doubt to the viewer who wondered at first, if the image is real, if it is a 3D image or if it is the media that has been deconstructed. Through this project, I blurred visual references using photography as a deconstruction process - operating, taking and duplicating several pieces at different locations on the original image, and then assembling them in the same space as a different composition. It is therefore deconstruction but also reconstruction. One cannot function without the other. Because it is in the act of reconstruction that is truly the “artistic” act. You also say the deconstruction or fragmentation of urban landscapes images, acts mainly as an emotion trigger, which does not aim at showing what things could be, but more at questioning their references. Do you think your work provokes an emotional response in the viewer, Is that important to you? The reading of the image is perceptive: the viewer interacts with the Visual so that they can rebuild their own image compared to their experience and sensitivity... It is here that lies the heart of my work, the final image is not a finite image but rather an image through what could be this new event. It is for this reason that I do not use technical 3d or complex alterations in order to avoid a too perfect image. The purpose of this process (deconstruction) is to create a rupture, “a clash” between the original image and the possibility of a new proposal. This break must be visible enough to sow doubt and challenge the Viewer, but not too much because the deconstruction process serves as gateway. At the burden of the Viewer to interpret him even the continuation of the process.This emotional reaction is important because it is this same reaction I look for myself even in my work. Why did you choose photographs as a medium in which to distort? / Why do you think photography plays an important part in you work? Photography is for me is like a sampler, it’s report to the reality is very interesting because it allows to capture the most faithfully possible that can be observed visually. As my work focuses on the perception of reality, it is important for me that the image is as “real” as possible. Photography for me is a technical way, I do me defined not as a photographer. I just use photography as a tool. Why is art so important? Art is important because it allows us to take a step back compared to our daily
MASSIMILIA窶起O MUNER
Can you describe the time when you first realised that creating was something you had to do? I think all human beings create by nature, but then one can decide to follow or to abandon his artistic vocation. In particular, since the primary school I have been encouraged by my teachers to follow my artistic inclination, even outside school, so I have been able to learn my first drawing and photograpahic notions since I was a child. At the high school I was particularly good both at artis--tic and technical drawing and thanks to this inclination I now design and create precise and clear works. I must confess my introduction to the world of Polaroid has not been really romantic. In my old photo albums I still remember the presence of some pictures that were slightly different from the others, as they had an asymmetric white frame round. I thought they must had been shot by some relatives, as my parents never owned a Polaroid camera. I was so fascinated by those photos I decided to look for a Polaroid camera, and then it all began. What is your creative process like? It actually depends on the situation, I began revisiting pop art works, to then cut my own shots. I have then been elaborating my technique and at present I cut completely different subjects from the real beginning, i.e. urban architecture, which I still feel very close to me. Such process is evolving and is often tested on new subjects.I have recently begun noncut works with impressed writings on images, such as cut Polaroids with typed messages on Moleskine papers, whose aim is to convey a message in a strong way, that sometimes may be my personal way of feeling. You are particularly focused on deconstructing and reconstructing the image, what inspired you to start doing so? Once I discovered instant photography, I was struck by Maurizio Galimberti’s compositions and huge mosaics, that are terrific. Before that, Fontana and his cuts had really impressed me as well, so I felt I had to use Polaroids in a new and completely different way. Works are in fact divided into different parts by cutting shapes and then re-assembled. Besides that, cutting a shot also gives the possibility to go beyond the finite world, providing new and different meanings. The well-defined space within the frame goes beyond its borders, not only thanks to the cut, but also by using Polaroids as part of a mosaic in order to convey a wider message.
Why did you choose photographs as a medium in which to distort? I chose photographs as they are a direct, immediate, versatile and really strong means to convey a message. Polaroids in fact represent the materic photography par excellence and gave me the possibility to immediately work on shots that came out the camera. With this regards in fact I could create some ready-made shots even on site, as this means gave me the opportunity to istantly create the idea I was thinking about and to directly convey my feelings. My compositions however are not always impulsive shots, as they often result from a longer project. What art do you most identify with? It would be reducing to choose a reference author or trend. However, should I have to pick an artist who impressed me, that would definitively be Andy Warhol, both for its works and for the world he had been able to create round him during the Factory period. My works are actually, as happens to many artists, influenced by a very rich emotional and artistic experience that is still developing. My works sometimes begin from an emotional condition to then move to old artists, movies, songs, colors and shapes related to an idea. Sometimes, on the other hand, I begin from a well-structured idea and then I add my personal touch. An emotional rush where it is easy and pleasant to get lost. Why is art so important? Art is a very powerful vehicle, can build and crash barriers at the same time. Art is at the same time a strong means to convey messages, arouse feelings and considerations as well as a great means to alienate and to introspectively focus on our soul.
EMMA SHERIDAN
emmasheridan@live.com