"Artist Statement"

I have decided that at this point in my artistic career, I have no personal statements yet to make as an artist. I do recognize my influences and inspirations as an artist define the style of photography I create and prefer to enjoy. Personally I strive to photograph subjects that might seem ignored or overlooked on a daily basis, mostly focusing on found objects or scenes that are un-manipulated or posed for my compositions. I tend to alter subjects only if necessary, but prefer to leave them as they existed before I discovered them. My artwork offers my viewers a substantial amount of depth; with black and white photography I tend to present a broad range of gray scale with high contrast, and in color digital photography I usually generate very manipulated photographs with tonal overlays. In all of my work I am generally attracted to my subject by it’s appealing textures or the way sunlight/artificial light is cast. To reiterate, I have not yet limited myself to a particular focus in photography, since I’m still studying it’s practice I expect my personal agenda with photography will develop into a much stronger statement in my future.

First Friday 4/3

Although, once again I was unable to attend the actual First Friday ceremony, I visited three of the galleries on Saturday, the Art 6 (which had the high school juried works), Visual art gallery (Out of the Shadows paintings by Chris Semtner), and the Klutch gallery (invasive spaces).
As far as the high school juried show at Art 6, I was thoroughly impressed by some of the quality work that was being produced, although that can’t be said for all of pieces. Many felt very unfinished and poorly crafted and the ideas were a little undeveloped in my opinion. The works that I did enjoy a lot were by Joe Riley, who did a majority of the large spray painted portraits. I felt as though there was a lot of dedication and creativity within the layers of spray paint, color choices and the positioning of stencils for a strong composition. Another work I enjoyed was the India ink work by Alicia Hagy, the emotion behind the each pen stroke was overbearing and I thought the immense amount of work was outstanding and inspired alone by that fact. It was interesting to view the levels of dedication for high school students in art classes since it wasn’t long ago I was in the same position. To be honest, I was just as amused by the poorly crafted or presented art now as I was in high school though.
After that I visited the Visual Art Gallery, I liked a good majority of the Out of the Shadows paintings mostly because of my high appreciation for exquisite paintings. Heads was my favorite, I thought the arrangement and overall composition along with the tonal colors used for the skin in the shadows and light was overwhelming. I really liked studying the paintings up close and noticing the range of colors used and then viewing from a far how they play in the light he created. The other paintings in back gallery by Sally Valentine were most inspiring to me. I really like abstract painting and when I was younger did a lot of splatter canvas painting. I really connected and enjoyed her version of the Jackson Pollack type style. That kind of art is definitely something I would consider purchasing and thought it was very imaginative.
The last gallery was Klutch, where there was a series of tessellation like artwork that was very inspiring and innovative. I liked the narrative and theme throughout the works and enjoyed being able to walk through and experience each frame of art. I really like the kind of alien characters the artist creates and these moods or atmospheres in which they are surrounded. I enjoy the cartoon element to the subject as well as the mediums that art used to create that sense of cartoon/street spray paint feeling.
Overall I was thoroughly impressed with the galleries I visited and I was happy to view all of the artwork in a calm and quiet setting. I was able to focus on each piece as well as getting close enough or far enough away for peek visual interest.