| Print Page
Artist Statement
I photograph reflections on moving
water. I collaborate with Nature to create what I call my Paintings by
Camera. I use the surface of the sea as my canvas, the seasonal colors
for my
palette, and I rely on the wind for my brushes. I have only one
chance
to capture an image before it morphs into another so I am at the mercy
of whatever Nature decides to give me that day. I am like a fisherman
who goes looking for the place where the blues are running or the
yellows or the reds, and the images I reel in are always a surprise
which is how I like it.
People often ask if I manipulate the
water, but why would I when the whole point (for me) is to be surprised? The
thrill for me is to leave my house without a clue of what I will find
when I put on my eyes that day. Manipulating the water would take away
the element of discovery, which would in turn make the art go away. I never
manipulate the image after I take it either for a similar reason.
The way I taught myself
photography is to shoot when I hear a chord of color, which is one
of my synesthetic responses to what I see. I knew nothing about
photography at the time, so I decided to just trust what I "hear" in my mind's eye. I use my synesthetic responses as reliable
signals that tell me when to shoot a picture, at the moment that
the color I am staring at creates the sound of cello which, for me, is
not a metaphor but the way I perceive the world. The name for
this phenomenon is Synesthesia, but I was twenty-five before I heard
the word or understood that everyone does not perceive the world as I
do.
I hear with my eyes and see with my ears.
The first note I played on the piano was green. I
experience color-sound synesthesia in both directions. Some of the other
synesthetic responses I use to create my work include texture, motion, and
taste. For instance, I take pictures when what I am looking at produces the sensation
of satin against my skin; or creates the sensation of dancing; or in one
case produces the taste of ice cream.
I dream many images before I actually see
them on the water. I oftren feel like I am a reporter from the Collective
Unconscious. I stand poised at the edge of a floating tableau of
reflections that pass by whether anyone notices them or not. Collected,
these archetypal images form a universal alphabet. Tide to tide, the
sea’s mirrored surface washes up to and over the sea-land barrier, like
a cerebral moat, as if the universe is dreaming. And while reflected images -- like dreams -- cannot be repeated, unlike
dreams, they can be recorded. I go fishing for archetypes and the catch
I bring home -- the dreams of the universe -- belongs to us all.
|
