seductiveGROTESQUE
black and white
black and white
“Seductive Grotesque” is a series images re-imagining the allegorical figurative sculpture in a 21st century form. In my work, I invite the viewer to stand somewhere between the imaginary and the real and consider new notions of authenticity and lived experience. These images depict antique sculptures whose history is chronicled, like bruises on skin, by the rough textures and blemishes on their surfaces - but these sculptures do not exist in physical form, and their history is an illusion. The scenes depict virtual objects and spaces created with 3D digital techniques commonly used to make convincing illusions in moviemaking. In this medium the 'camera' is directed inward, taking a picture of an imagined environment, instead of taking in the visible and material world.
Like the figure in the allegorical sculpture tradition, the sculpted body here stands as a symbol of a seductive platonic ideal attainable only in the imagination. The grotesque, on the other hand, brings the body back to earth, to the corporeal and visceral - the faces, distorted with emotion, celebrate the physical and material life of the body.
These black and white photographs are created by capturing a virtual 3D scenes as large size film negatives. The negative is then contact printed it in the darkroom on traditional black and white fibre paper. The ritual of darkroom printing, with its slow and decidedly material nature, along with the tactile surface of the final print, infuses the image with an added material presence.
Like the figure in the allegorical sculpture tradition, the sculpted body here stands as a symbol of a seductive platonic ideal attainable only in the imagination. The grotesque, on the other hand, brings the body back to earth, to the corporeal and visceral - the faces, distorted with emotion, celebrate the physical and material life of the body.
These black and white photographs are created by capturing a virtual 3D scenes as large size film negatives. The negative is then contact printed it in the darkroom on traditional black and white fibre paper. The ritual of darkroom printing, with its slow and decidedly material nature, along with the tactile surface of the final print, infuses the image with an added material presence.
Perpetually Sitting |
Silver Gelatin Fibre Print 10x12"
Disgust | Silver Gelatin Fibre Print 10x12"
The Increasingly Difficult Task of Walking | Silver Gelatin Fibre Print 10x12"
The Story Lies at the Bottom of the Ocean | Silver Gelatin Fibre Print 10x12"
Perpetually Sitting | Silver Gelatin Fibre Print 32x40"
The Increasingly Difficult Task of Walking | Silver Gelatin Fibre Print 32x40"
Their Story Lies at the Bottom of the Ocean | Silver Gelatin Fibre Print 32x40"
Double | Silver Gelatin Fibre Print 12x12"
About my work:
My current work explores the potential of virtual media to make visible the world of memory and the imagination, and give tangible presence to the history of people and places. For the past decade I have produced projects merging a figurative approach, based on my background in painting and photography, with technology based forms of presentation and interaction.
In current projects, I draw from traditional approaches to image making, photography, computer-generated imagery, and Augmented Reality for mobile, to produce images that blur the line between depiction and illusion, and installations where the virtual and the physical can be experienced simultaneously. I am interested in presenting a hybrid experience, suggesting an expanded notion of authentic experience is at play.
NEXT SOLO EXHIBITION
Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey BC, Canada. April 9 to June 12, 2016 SAG Link
RELATED MEDIA WORKS
Seductive Grotesque - Virtual Sculpture.
Inside AR Conference, Munich, Germany, October 2013.
2nd Place "Work of ARt", International Augmented Reality Art Competition
The Valley. Michael Bjornson Projects, Vancouver, BC. June 2009
3D CGI/Video and multimedia installation.
The Valley was also Published in: Front Magazine – Artist Project and Essay. Volume XX, Number 3 May-June 2009
My current work explores the potential of virtual media to make visible the world of memory and the imagination, and give tangible presence to the history of people and places. For the past decade I have produced projects merging a figurative approach, based on my background in painting and photography, with technology based forms of presentation and interaction.
In current projects, I draw from traditional approaches to image making, photography, computer-generated imagery, and Augmented Reality for mobile, to produce images that blur the line between depiction and illusion, and installations where the virtual and the physical can be experienced simultaneously. I am interested in presenting a hybrid experience, suggesting an expanded notion of authentic experience is at play.
NEXT SOLO EXHIBITION
Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey BC, Canada. April 9 to June 12, 2016 SAG Link
RELATED MEDIA WORKS
Seductive Grotesque - Virtual Sculpture.
Inside AR Conference, Munich, Germany, October 2013.
2nd Place "Work of ARt", International Augmented Reality Art Competition
The Valley. Michael Bjornson Projects, Vancouver, BC. June 2009
3D CGI/Video and multimedia installation.
The Valley was also Published in: Front Magazine – Artist Project and Essay. Volume XX, Number 3 May-June 2009