CITYscapes
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Artist Statement
On Photographs
Written by
Tristan D. Grey
Written by
Tristan D. Grey
Published
02nd April 2012
‘ as images a priori or meditations on a theme ’
Tristan D. Grey,
Artist
Rather than reproducing an – even though subjective – snapshot of reality I use photography as a means to transport moods and atmospheres while allowing the viewer room for his/her/their own interpretation. Central and recurring elements of my work are movement and space, their recollection and experience, not static but rather in motion, not totally palpable and not written out in detail, but rather something approximate.
In order to return to a more original experience and state of recollection, to soften the supernatural pin-sharp acuteness of the digital imagery, to become abrasive, ‘fuzzier’ – at best ‘blurred’, away from the mere photographic reproduction and towards an open interpretation, I started to disfigure the taken images by ‘blurring’ their shapes using different methods in and outside of the camera. At times shifting the subject out of focus or digitally painting over it, at other times using multiple layers of information on top of each other until something new appears, something different and unexpected, closer to the images one has in his/her mind than coded into millions of bits of information.
While looking at photographs we are confronted with an exact replication of a moment in time, we haven’t had a chance to capture up to this level of detail ever before. Photographs create memory by reproducing visual experience and as with any other transferring medium, there is always a process of transfiguration involved – while translating they are changing reality.
Rather than reproducing an – even though subjective – snapshot of reality I use photography as a means to transport moods and atmospheres while allowing the viewer room for his/her/their own interpretation. Central and recurring elements of my work are movement and space, their recollection and experience, not static but rather in motion, not totally palpable and not written out in detail, but rather something approximate.
In order to return to a more original experience and state of recollection, to soften the supernatural pin-sharp acuteness of the digital imagery, to become abrasive, ‘fuzzier’ – at best ‘blurred’, away from the mere photographic reproduction and towards an open interpretation, I started to disfigure the taken images by ‘blurring’ their shapes using different methods in and outside of the camera. At times shifting the subject out of focus or digitally painting over it, at other times using multiple layers of information on top of each other until something new appears, something different and unexpected, closer to the images one has in his/her mind than coded into millions of bits of information.
While looking at photographs we are confronted with an exact replication of a moment in time, we haven’t had a chance to capture up to this level of detail ever before. Photographs create memory by reproducing visual experience and as with any other transferring medium, there is always a process of transfiguration involved – while translating they are changing reality.
Rather than reproducing an – even though subjective – snapshot of reality I use photography as a means to transport moods and atmospheres while allowing the viewer room for his/her/their own interpretation. Central and recurring elements of my work are movement and space, their recollection and experience, not static but rather in motion, not totally palpable and not written out in detail, but rather something approximate.
In order to return to a more original experience and state of recollection, to soften the supernatural pin-sharp acuteness of the digital imagery, to become abrasive, ‘fuzzier’ – at best ‘blurred’, away from the mere photographic reproduction and towards an open interpretation, I started to disfigure the taken images by ‘blurring’ their shapes using different methods in and outside of the camera. At times shifting the subject out of focus or digitally painting over it, at other times using multiple layers of information on top of each other until something new appears, something different and unexpected, closer to the images one has in his/her mind than coded into millions of bits of information.
While looking at photographs we are confronted with an exact replication of a moment in time, we haven’t had a chance to capture up to this level of detail ever before. Photographs create memory by reproducing visual experience and as with any other transferring medium, there is always a process of transfiguration involved – while translating they are changing reality.
The interest in photography lies here more in an experimental way of recalling memories – an often underlying theme – and distortion of reality, than in the mere means of representation. In some of these processes time manifests itself ontop of these images, at other times the photographs are turned into abstractions of the underlying objects themselves, rather as images a priori or meditations on a theme.
