As I am trying to create the surreal landscapes from my dreams for my project, and compositing generally, I am looking at Erik Johansson. His work struck me anyway last week when I researched the surreal, generally.
2020, ‘Up the past’
2019, 'Above all'
Apart from being seemless optical illusions, they are generally saying something (which is often in the subtitle). About the environment, history, the human condition or humankind generally. And this was my fear with the surreal, it can often come off cheesy and have no purpose in the art world. Johansson’s isn’t, and does.
The illusory, reflections, blur multiple & long exposure have been a large part of my practice, with themes of isolation, loss, impermanence and human condition, so Johansson’s work also helps me situate, or contextualise my practice.
2019, 'Looking for Stars'
Erik says he just couldn’t make the work he wants to make if not for this process. It is just easier for him to create his own landscapes digitally. With most photography the process ends with the pressing of the trigger (well, this is a bit of simplification, but I guess he means you can’t alter the content of the image after this), but his process starts when he pulls the trigger.
2018, 'Expectations'
I would question why in ‘Expectations’ is set in a field of daisies when he is talking about his creative process been under scrutiny (by himself), but I guess that is the choice of the surreal artist.
2010, 'Nightmare perspective'
2014 'Dreamwalking'
His processes are often documented and included on his website. I also watched a TED talk by him about his process, generally. I feel he is actually very generous about his process and learned a few key things about making plausible ‘impossible’ images. There are 3 main rules. Same perspective, shot at the same light and height, seamless borders - where does one finish and the other end? This is done by matching colour, contrast & light or adding photographic defects like depth of field, noise & colour. I notice in ‘Above all’ he places an out of focus tree in front of some of the border between the grass and elevator. I wonder whether this was to help a problematic transition
2012, 'Snow Cover'
2016, 'Lost in the Rain'
His work is highly planned, like Gursky, nothing is accidental here. And sketches are an important part of his process. I went straight back to this process I had started this project with.
The other thing that heartened me, but also disheartened me is, some of his early images on his website are really not that much better than my last weeks experiments. Work he considered finished enough to include. I still see borders that are a little jarring in some of his later works. This heartened me, as it means I CAN achieve this quality of work. We all start somewhere. It disheartened me as this work was 10 years ago and there is noticeable shift after a few years of working, presumably solely at this one career.