G E O M E T R I S P E C T I V E
K evin Eat ing er
GEOMETRISPECTIVE Š2012 Kevin Eatinger All Rights Reserved. All photography and imagery are property of Kevin Eatinger. The book author retains sole copyright to his contributions to this book. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author Kevin Eatinger. GeometrispectiveŠ Kevin Eatinger Book design, cover design and layout by Kevin Eatinger. All photography and post-production by Kevin Eatinger.
L email: keeatin77@gmail.com Visit the website: www.kevineatingerphoto.com
Dedicated to Vernita, without whom life’s long road would be empty and directionless.
Acknowledgements My deepest appreciation, thanks and gratitude to Ed and Rita, Betty, Tina. . . Pam, Cindy, Kris and John. . . Bill, Bob, Chris and Dave. A special thank you to Susan Davis for her incomparable battle honed editing insights. To Sam Guard for his lending of faith and determination. To Ruth Horwich for her kindness.
Page Two
Geo-metri-spective, noun: to describe photographs or other images that exhibit a blend of strong linear geometric shapes, deep contrast, heavy weight, and vivid color tonality. The relations of points, lines surfaces and higher dimensional analogs. Arrangement of the parts of something. Impression of objects positions in relation to each other when viewed from a particular point. A particular attitude toward regarding something. True understanding of the relative importance of things: a sense of perspective. From Greek, from gé ‘earth’. From French, -métrique, corresponding to geometry. From medieval Latin perspectiva ,‘science of optics’. Geometrispective is the word I’ve created and given to describe this particular body of my work. In these images, I strove toward a fluid evolution of perspectives within built landscapes, in order to give hard geometries a vehicle outside their strict measurements and tolerances. By creating planes of visual divergence within structured design frameworks, the typical perspectives “deconstruct.” These photographic expressions lean toward interpretations of color, light, and architecture that present the complexities and impressions of an unexpected relationship. These unfamiliar configurations bring together curvatures of rich saturated color, and angular, lean forms in light and dark, to create new photographic vistas. This fluid changing vision interprets architecture, geometric influences and shifting color palates to express the natural framework of the environment through which we weave our lives. Geometrispective is the kaleidoscope that becomes my definition of art, through a free form or pliable foundation. This study of work is my internalized representation; I do not wish to redesign what is captured. No formula or logic in built landscapes is being questioned – it is the creative process and approach to human routine and habitation that are
embraced. My meaning and my value direct my passion, However, this is not representational photography. The camera, as a tool, is utilized to coalesce spirituality. With respect for the medium, the camera and lens, and my deep appreciation of art as stated in architectural forms, I pursue abstraction and meaning through the establishment of forms, depth and truism inside these static geometric frameworks. It’s easy to tell I have been influenced by painters more than photographers. The camera is my brush. I have always found the Cubists fascinating in their emotion, suggestion and depiction. Very certain, very specifically constructed lines, shapes and forms… tonal gradients, color values and reconstructions... a passion for symbols and meanings. The static form is transformed to kinetic... created to jump out of a painting to make the viewer think. I strive to make and process non-representational images... gathering familiarity and tilting it, to reflect differently what exists within. The Cubist artists such as Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Jean Metzinger, Robert Delaunay, Juan Gris, Albert Gleizes and most recently Fernand Leger (thank you Patricia Lay-Dorsey) amaze me and inspire my directions. Likewise, Futurists and Constructionists artists works similarly inspire vision for me. I follow Cubists in their giant shadows. Expressionists/Abstract Expressionists influenced my views of detail and free exuberant, unexpected color palates. For them, vibrance, tones, hues and chroma were available to push into other realms beyond skin tones and grass and sky coloration. The artist’s passion was unleashed without restraint and the viewer experiences what they felt. Interpretations abounded. This, along with strong doses of Super Realists/Photo Realists, captured my attention with extreme, true-to-life detail and influenced my work.
Architecture was my stabilizing point and is where I became acquainted with the properties of discipline. I could fall into a world of order and a system of rules, where one could learn to think within a box and still be unconstrained and creative. Photographically the directions I noticed and desired to steep myself in, no matter how weak or strong, were artisans and technicians— Edward and Brett Weston, Ansel Adams, Steichen, Stieglitz, Edgerton, Penn along with Hedrich-Blessing, Edward S. Curtis, Ezra Stoller, Julius Shulman and Edward Ruscha. My dictum or principal regarding color is letting it go... following an unrestrained course in my images. I don’t pull in any reins or necessarily examine a psychologic interaction. Reaction to color in these images is solely left to the viewer. In other cases, my abstract images in this realm have been defined in black and white (grayscale) to afford a different subjective opinion or a more focused punch in composition. Leaning toward detail, and strong complexities, I strive to create form and depth in texture comprised of detail. Naturally gravitating to a detailed linear and ordered composition, I look to combine color palates with light and dark formations to subdue overly anxious movement and locate a focus for the minds eye to settle. Though not in every case is a relaxed essence fundamentally set. I am in a state of seemingly perpetual anxiousness and tension... so motion, action, breathing and processing occur through my images with predominance. I create natural tensions. Sometimes an inner gravity attracts me toward less contrast, less “resting spots”. Frequently I’m pulled to showing, and explaining, all the detail and information in a scene. I can feel like I’ve excluded something, if everything isn’t revealed.
In today’s technologically driven world, bold separation of color, strong simplified illustrative form and closely juxtaposed textures appear instantly before us. On devices small and large, SmartPhones, tablets, pads and flat screens incorporated everywhere... over and over again. Visual cues and signals demand our attention, slap us in the face, goad us to try and ignore them. Graphic depictions identify modern cultures direction... or seemingly so. The Internet and devices are meant to keep us absorbed in trends that come and go in milliseconds, lead the way for humans to be “interfaced” with our physical surroundings. Only sleek-to-the-moment graphic treatments can keep an ever-growing segment of global population momentarily transfixed to, and satisfied with, “current information.” Fleeting forms of visuals and rapid fire “bites” of predigested communication are considered artful, if only for the moment. What becomes overwritten? What informs peoples learned understanding of day-to-day interactions? Virtual interaction grows increasingly complex and vivid. If symbolism is not recognized or a viewer’s interest is not captured, what is to be observed in a scene filtered through the 21st century brain? Did interactions actually occur? What was considered? Does this weigh into what is seen or unseen? What is the content? How are scenes defined and compared? With this content and innumerable forms of information, I realized the broad focus of my project was in finding location for my images. Where does my work fit? Where do I fit? What portion of a changing jigsaw puzzle contains identity similar to that of my idea? These are modes of my thought, wrapped in the search for the significance of my inner being transforming its existence onto page or screen. Identified as soul and spirit, nature and inner-self, was the creature of my
art acquiring intellect, and eliciting subjective stance? Perplexing. Given the volume of information visually exhibited and competing for attention, subjective feelings and biases in individuals are more complex than ever before. Visual content digging into human psyche to cement a message or abstract ideal is extremely influential. This is the “shared� human journey. Internalized experience is now fully externalized. People are accustomed to seeing powerful graphics and impressively designed messages, with as great a frequency as breathing. And since breathing is sharing... Would this be perceived involvement or connection to life? The relations between people, art and symbolism evolve, as do the artists and their environments. Intrinsic expression builds considerable opinion, while we absorb more interpretation and reason. Geometrispective work attempts to cultivate a small examination of content as measured in the multitude of directions people now move within and without today. I strove to bring a relationship together, to form a whole new part... even a new singularity. My objective was to build a road, explore directions, and find states of mind through Geometrispective. Kevin Eatinger 2012
Spiraling
Bisected Latitudes
Page Eight
City on a Prairie
previous page: Radiation
Page Twelve
Room to Move
Page Fourteen
Expanded Growth
Aspects 1
Building a City 2
Page Eighteen
Age of Culture
Chicago School 3
City Sound
Attendance Performance
Bridge alt 3
Bridge 2
Page Twenty Six
Circle of Stairs
previous page: Conversation on Chicago 2
Page Thirty
Geometrispective 4
Page Thirty Two
Cubes and Blocks
Page Thirty Four
Lake Front Balance
Page Thirty Six
Girders 2
Page Thirty Eight
Piano Institute
St. Mary Angels alt 6
Spaces of Worship 2
Richardson Mass 2
Richardson Mass
Page Forty Four
Hall Stair
Page Forty Six
Integrated
Page Forty Eight
Staircase Incase
Page Fifty
The Station
Page Fifty Two
Pyramids
Page Fifty Four
Form in Function
Reversing Opposites
Grid Work
Page Fifty Eight
Prairie Cubes 3
Page Sixty
Moving Interest
previous page: Prairie Cubes 2
Page Sixty Four
Passing Through alt
Page Sixty Six
Lines
Page Sixty Eight
Metropolisian
previous page: Nature of Movement
Page Seventy Two
Open Planes
Page Seventy Four
Theorem on Euclid
Page Seventy Six
Eternal
Page Seventy Eight
Lost and Found
Warehousing the Past
Page Eighty
G E O M E T R I S P E C T I V E
K evin Eat ing er