for the past year i have been working on digital collaged photos. these images are compiled from images that i have taken myself or from found images on google. Most of the pieces i make come to me in an image. i always have a picture in my mind of what that image would be, which is easy to produce on the computer using photoshop and illustrator. But in the past this has been used only as a starting point for my images, from which they move on to become a drawing, a painting or a print.

This process starts by acquiring images to display one or more parts of the image, edited in photoshop to become components of the final image. Many of my final images are thus always composed of at least 5 images or many more. The hardest task of making these pieces is always the task of getting the images to match up and work together, giving it a sense of realism, questioning the reality of the image, while clearly being a surreal image.

i never got into sureal art until 2 years ago. but since then the work of many surreal artist has influenced my work and the way i approach my work. One of my favorite surreal artist is Salvador Dali. he uses many recurring themes in his work, such as time, and memory and expresses his feelings and concepts toward these two themes by using metaphorical symbols and objects to represent his thoughts. he also uses images and imagery that become optical illusions and have been reproduced by many artist for movie posters, paintings and photographs. his style interests me most as well as his ability to tell a story or give a message in a single image.

Maggie Taylor is the artist i am reviewing this week. she is an artist that uses found images and photos that she has taken to make surreal photoshopped images. her images usually come from memories of personal events in her life while others are illustrations such as images that she has made based on Alice In Wonderland. Her work is a big influence to mine because of the process that she uses to create her pieces, as well as the statement she is trying to make in her image, which are usually graphic while being very whimsical and funny.

http://www.maggietaylor.com/

I started drawing and painting from the time I could hold a pencil or brush well enough to make squiggly lines on paper. As I grew older the squiggly lines started to make more sense in the form of an actual image. From that point on I attended art school during the summers, and was in an art class every semester from primary to secondary school. It was my goal in each drawing to capture what was in front of me to the best of my ability. And that was always my favorite part of art; the ability to recapture what you see, and within that time explore and get to know the many aspects of a space, place or person in more detail than you would under regular circumstances.

Art in my home country of Guyana however was seen as nothing more than a hobby, and I never thought I would pursue it, dreading the chance of becoming a starving artist. It was because of this, that I decided to pursue architecture. And keep art simply as something on the side. After two years of architecture school, I realized that I was in the wrong field of study and that I needed to feed my creative side. And with the opportunities of America I was sure I could do fine as an artist.

Since being in college I have tried many new ways of making art from mixed media, to using image and text, 3d sculpture, and collage. My basic idea when I changed majors was to get as much different art as I could under my belt and find my niche, weather it was to remain being drawing and painting as I had always done, or something new that I found more challenging or appropriate for what I was trying to convey.

Today my artwork ventures away from just making aesthetic 2d images, to work that both asks questions and makes statements about things I observe around me, and see in the media. But beyond inspiration from everyday life, Philosophy and the work of many surrealist and digital artist have also become influences in my work and have helped me form some of the thoughts and ideas that go into my work. In my work I try to create an image that says one or many things about a thought, idea or expression, after analyzing and interpreting the things around me, things that may be about me or even about someone else. For me this is my favorite part of art and the reason it is so powerful and the reason I became an artist. To be conscious of myself and the world around me, and to express these ideas to the world in a way that people can see their own lives and thoughts, and feel connected to me without knowing me.

Digital media is currently my main medium for work. It is a change from the drawings and paintings of my youth, but it still follows the trend of mixing or adding color onto matt white surface, that makes the image pop out of the page and bring the viewer’s gaze directly to the content of the piece. It is also my main medium because my first thought of what I want to make comes to me a one clear image. Digital programs such as Photoshop and illustrator allows me to for these images piece by piece in a way that no other medium allows, and thus it is always the first thing I go to, even if it is a jumping off point before the image takes on new shape as a print, painting, drawing or sculpture.

The most influential passage I have ever read was by Aristotle. The piece takes place in his prison cell, and he is talking to two other close philosophers before he is to be hung. In this passage he says it is the responsibility of the philosopher to be always thinking about fulfilling his soul, and not the body; he is to be constantly thinking about the world and his soul’s interaction with it in the present. I feel this is present in my life and my art. My inspiration comes at all times of the day and is influenced by everything I see and analyze in my dreams, as I walk, as I think, and as I eat. This makes my art more meaningful for me, because it is an autobiography of my life as every piece stems from my everyday interactions and experiences.

2 artist that have been an influence to my work are Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison. These artist are married and collaborate on all of the projects over the past few years. their images are deep and thought provoking, and i love the aesthetic of the older black and white work.

http://parkeharrison.com/