Ask Now the Beasts

Using an 8×10 large format view camera, I photograph these sculptural, allegorical scenes whose final form results in dramatic, highly detailed, painterly still-life images wrought with sensuality, lightness and darkness, and complex religious symbolism.

I strive to create images that elegantly articulate the totality of existence, focusing heavily on life’s underlying instinctive, carnal nature in the face of fragility and impermanence. The concept of morality in relation to mortality has possessed a significant presence within the history of art, ranging from religious altarpiece imagery to the work of the vanitas painters. Manifesting melancholic themes with beauty, precision and seduction forces the viewer to look, despite its grotesque and morbid nature. Through these images, I aspire to make apparent the restlessness of a life that is knowingly so temporary and vulnerable.

Ask Now the Beasts derives its title from the Biblical text of Job. The symbolism in these frames conjure ideas of the cyclical nature of the earth in relation to the concept of the harvest. Once a time of prosperity, richness and eroticism, the offerings here are withered on the vine. Light strikes from the left as if to indicate the passage of days grown too long. The earth passes away, but that is not to say that there is no hope - suffering and death leads to transcendence and transformation. Within the dance between light and darkness, beauty and celebration can still be found. These images, reminiscent of an altarpiece structure, are wrought with complex references and allusions to stained glass windows, illuminated manuscripts, and other genres of religious imagery intended for meditation, storytelling and reverence.

My work is highly process oriented, with many layers that all play off of each other. Before photographing, watercolor sketches are made of the scene to establish the concept visually. From the sketch, I figure out colors and materials needed to build the tableau, which is a sculptural endeavor. The insects and skeletons used are real and acquired from across the globe from various collectors of specimens online. Arriving brittle and fragile, the insects must go through a process of rehydration to mount them into the new shape, giving them a sense of movement. The arrangement of the still life scene is then photographed using 8x10 color film and natural light. The film is scanned and edited with minimal photoshop work to remove wires, glue and the base structures that were used to hold it together. The large format allows for immense detail and texture, with the potential for mural size prints, making them larger than life and referential to painting.