A New Plot
Our newest contribution set to the trans-Atlantic project estuary 'Combines 2k14-A / Territoria' is an evolution from our previous works. And it is today's Blog subject
The author, our first Photographer :
Eric : I wanted the new year to coincide with a novelty in the way I build my Combines. I wasn't going to change my approach to the concept of combining because in the last 2 years this approach has created my style as opposed to that of my partner, British Landscape Photographer Tom Unsworth - http://tbunsworth.wix.com/tomunsworthfineartphotography - But I needed some creative input to refresh our contribution and motivate my creative process. Therefore I needed to give our Combines some new feature. The more you refine a product and like the result, the more difficult it becomes to find a new scheme that will, at best, improve the result or keep it at par, or at worse, set it back ; a risk undoubtedly. I am not entirely sure if this new creation will be a successful one and lead other Combines creation throughout the rest of the year. It always takes about 3 weeks for me to evaluate my work accordingly after it is published ; I need to let it sink in in order to see it with an objective eye. I have to let the novelties incubate in my unconscious before I can truly have a critical look at it. The excitement of creating something new can sometimes blur your vision of its true value. Meanwhile I will leave the appreciation and evaluation of this new set to the estuary public and my peers and expose myself to criticism from outside. After all, estuary is still exploratory even though it has been branded ; making any sens?! Call it artist bipolarity...
For the aware ones, the new feature may seem obvious although subtle. The estuary public will possibly notice previous creative gestures such as in frame two of this Blog : the three piece frame with one separator is something I have done in the past and the new deal is somewhat a shoot off of that. And so, in the other four frames of this Blog that are an excerpt of the 7 frame series published in the project - http://convozine.com/estuary/37454 - I have significantly pushed this plot ahead : there is now as many as four frames on the same canvas and the separator has become a graphic element in its own right, not just a separator anymore. Moreover, some photos are extended beneath others and allowed to act as separators themselves in their hidden section. And finally, this new way of doing things as forced me to do a lot of clipping and cropping of original photographs. Something I have been quite uncomfortable doing because of the integrity of a piece of art. Clipping my Photographs is one thing ; clipping that of another artist is that much more unnatural.
I must mention the use of non-underground city images for this set as well ; I also have in the previous one. As a matter of fact this concept transgression has become somewhat necessary as it is more and more difficult to go out for photo sessions in the Metro and Underground city. To some extent it has become dangerous not to mention illegal. Getting a permission is possible ; using the photographs for commercial or promotional use is illegal and we do advertise our estuary art for sale - http://estuary.fineartamerica.com/ - Sadly, Montreal's underground city has become quite unsafe. Commuters, many not in their right mind, are more aggressive than ever in the site of a Photographer going about shooting in public. As for the underground network of tunnels, it has become the refuge of the homeless in what is possibly the harshest winter in 30 years (I have nothing against them, but my safety and gear are most important right now and a great many of them are intoxicated). Thus, I haven't had much choice but to start using other subjects. For the Montreal connoisseurs, you will probably have recognized the Foufounes Electriques washroom in frame 3 of this Blog ; it is underground after all...
Tout droits réservés - all rights reserved : estuary/2014
Tom Unsworth/Éric Soucy
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