Artist's Statement
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
1.
Throughout time, man has looked for answers to questions that are destined to be eternal. Between reason and the senses, between what is and what appears to be, the spirit of art resides, attempting through its influence to answer these questions. The result tends to be misconstrued inasmuch as the artist avoids delivering a message that is clear and easily interpreted by the spectator.
2.
An upbringing very close to the arts led me, quite naturally, to develop certain artistic preoccupations at a young age. My interest in photography originated in painting, as is often the case. I first photographed what I could not or did not know how to paint, and then, gradually, I started down a road that led to the photographic expression of what I cannot or do not know how to explain.
My education in the field of photography has been autodidactic. In order to turn my hobby into a profession, I spent many years reading every relevant book I could get my hands on and conducting numerous photographic experiments. Finally, beginning in 1989, I dedicated myself professionally to this occassionally thankless task, which, however, I so often find captivating.
It goes without saying that artistic photography is no way to make a living these days. Any photographer will regretfully have to dedicate the greater part of his efforts to work that is merely remunerative. That means producing work that, although it has a certain dignity, fails to strike him as attractive in any way, and lacks any real content, any real interest of a personal or creative sort.
After the weddings and the similar shoots, it's imperative to do something that reconciles you with your passion, something that makes you proud. It could be a portrait, a landscape, a little bird in its nest; or, in my case, a still life.
STILL LIFES
For many photographers, photographic still lifes don't make a very interesting prospect. For others, a belief in the general difficulty of still lifes prevents them from trying. But the still life's great advantage is that it can be photographed at any time of year, in any location, under any light conditions. One can make use of anything, from focus to color mixtures to the combination of the quotidian with the deliberately created, and, finally, to the design and overall production of the image.
In my work, I photograph diverse objects, combining them in various ways until I find something that strikes me as interesting. I'm especially attracted to things with special textures or elements that have or suggest a certain symbolic content. I normally compose my images without regard to the fact that they will later be photographed. I create a kind of "ephemeral sculpture" (a pedantic phrase I use to make a little fun of myself) that I later photograph from various angles, treating the montage like the subject of a portrait whom you must not distract from his pose.
As a photographer, I always try to bear myself like a casual spectator. Looking at the montage, it's as if there were a history transpiring before your eyes, a history to which you are the sole witness and which you cannot, and should not, alter. A history which invites you to question yourself. Naturally, it's difficult to apply all this to an image that you yourself are manipulating from the start. Moreover, an assortment of objects doesn't always result in an interesting photo. In my experience, many must be rejected, and others will fail to deliver what was hoped.
