Saddened by my inability to manipulate a brush, maddened by the constraints of the photograph’s realistic nature, bored with redundant imagery, and finally, determined to rid myself of the imitative nature of the mind––I set out to photograph an everyday subject in a way I had never seen before.
Influenced by the use of commonplace objects by Art Provera’s activists and the conceptual approach of fabricating photographs of the late 1960’s, an eleven-year on again, off again journey had begun. Inspired by its vibrant color, malleable structure, and finally––like all of God’s good little creatures starved of nutrients––its ability to rot, I chose as my subject the ubiquitous red berry, the tomato.
Smashed, crushed, and splattered the red berry’s juices became my medium. Arranged and left to ferment and moulder for weeks, months, and even years, the berry, with a bit of good fortune, would be blessed with the magic of “mother nature”––the blue-green fungi, or more simply put..mold. The berry’s structure mutilated to new unruly forms. Blues and greens now mixed with the vibrant reds. My palette expanded. My canvas, now organic, became wonderfully and unpredictably, alive.
Schooled in the early 70’s in the Ansel Adams, Minor White aesthetic, I produced images that I considered were unique in subject. But the more compositions I constructed, the more unsettled I had become––lost were the “goose bump” moments of my project’s beginnings. The camera was put down, the canvases set aside, a period of reflection was prescribed. Murky images had begun to populate my mind.
What were those elusive images of The Red Berry?
The red berry images were composed and documented between 2006 and 2016. Influenced by the Abstract Expressionism of Pollack and Picasso’s eclectic attitude to style, I realized my images needn’t be encumbered by the restraints of the photograph’s realistic nature. Released from their documentary duties, the analogue darkroom abandoned, my completed compositions could now be treated as only a step in the process––a sketch awaiting the manipulation of the digital brush.
Now…choices would be made. Leave the reality of a decaying canvas unaltered, or digitally embellishment it––push it to an unexpected place. Techniques would constantly be experimented with. Colors would be enhanced, swayed or replaced countless times. Hundreds of variations would be produced––redundancies would always be avoided. When the mood struck, the reality of a mouldered canvas would be transformed into a new, more abstract form.
In either case, the challenging world of decay, or the striking world of the abstract, I had found my elusive images––The Red Berry.