Digital art

I am a digital artist who uses his own photo’s to create all sorts of graphics, be it photo-illustrations (compositing) or digital illustrations. But I also start to use my photos like they are (after some post-processing). Categorization is still kinda difficult I would say, but we will get there at some point.

The book of Fukushima 1 and 2 – more to follow

I heard a story about Fukushima, that after the tsunami stones with inscriptions were found on the mountain side, warning the reader: Do not build below this line. Somehow people are not able to learn from past experiences or from tradition. There are so many people reading the bible – but despite all the warnings that rich people do not go to heaven (not just in the new testament) we still have very christian (in their own words) rich people who think that the world is just a commodity that serves their needs until there is no more world to conquer – because it is all burned to ashes.

And then they wept? Probably not.

There is this former evangelical who started to collect all the warnings about the anti-Christ and tried to find out how many were fitting for Trump. And the fun thing is that a lot of these warnings are regarding people who come to power because of manipulation and lies. And when they are in power the neglect their duties, as in: not taking care of those in need, not taking care of the children. Someone thought at some point that such instructions had to be put in a document like that. If only it worked the last so many times.

Anyway, since modern times ask for modern solutions, I thought it would be a good idea to work on a new bible book called the book of Fukushima. I have here two illustrations as a starter. Maybe it will result in another set of warnings that can then be ignored.

 

The hills have eyes sometimes?

There is a hidden world out here, near the swamp, in the hills – there is water flowing everywhere, collecting in pools and mud, in small ponds and small streams in hidden valleys that are hard to find. It used to be that the people living here burned down bushes as soon as they became too thick, blocking the roads between houses and villages and between farms and fields. This is not done here anymore because it is forbidden. This used to be East Germany and before that it was part of another story with lots of violence and war. Some want that what was before to come back. I think the eyes in these trees do not want that, they would not like that at all. They want their own space, outside of it all, in peace, to be who they want to be.

What I made for the ‘Lotto BrandenBurg Fotografie Preis 2022’

Materials: paint, laser prints (color / B&W), MDF
Printing Technique: Transfer print / Digital Printmaking
Dimensions: up to 33x45cm

Application text:

The theme that unites all my works is time. I use my own digital photos to create images that are usually part of larger artworks. What you see here are just the prints, made the way I am now doing more and more: transfer printing on painted surfaces and then disguise them as artifacts weathered by time. For me the printing process I use now with digital images, is as important as creating a print from a negative like I used to do in a darkroom.

The works I create that way are fake, they are forgeries of artworks that have never existed. Or maybe they will, one day, in the future.

To the rest of the text I send with the images…

Talking about the birds

There is this thing about birds, that if they are used to symbolize humans in a composition/painting/collage – we do accept them as humans, there is nothing alien about them, no uncanny valley stuff at all. And at the same time they mostly do not really bring their own character- or so I think.

I have the impression that if I were to use other animals then we have more of an idea of what that animal symbolizes. Insects are NOT human, they are a danger and mammals are surrounded by the stories we heard about them in our childhoods or what they mean for us as food or their economic meaning or as pets. They immediately have character, or symbolize something.

At first I have used humans made from 3D puppets in my artworks, but even though I still like those works, it was also too flat. I have also made works with pictures of real humans and tried to use their stories in my artworks but then it became too personal for a couple of them and therefore I stopped having permission to use these compositions in exhibitions or for sale.

Birds have no baggage, they are not us – some say they are not even real – they are beautiful reptiles with wings. This makes them ideal to use as characters in my future compositions because we can somehow identify or bond with them or ascribe them human qualities, emotions or so – but they are also not us, they are neutral. I could also use reptiles, I think, but I have more pictures with birds in them.