ART PROJECTS
GALLERY
REFERENCE MATERIALS
Artist Statement
The medium of photography is more often than not a medium of the found image. There is also a long history of manipulating and transforming the photographic image. I find myself straddling the fence between these two practices as the photographs and photo - based works I create are derived through a kind of dialogue between the found and the constructed. As my primary subject matter is the urban landscape, these landscapes hide and reveal themselves. I can walk down the street one - day and see nothing. The next day I walk down the same street and multiple images emerge. Some of these images will remain unchanged or un-manipulated, while other images will be transformed, either digitally or physically, into the constructed images. How I determine which photographs will be manipulated and which photographs will remain unchanged is very much an intuitive thing.
Further evidence of this creative exploration can be found in my newest photo - based public art project entitled “Reference Materials”. This public installation is comprised of approximately twenty to twenty-five cropped and edited digital photographs of the built environment or urban landscapes. Each of these images will be mounted on a support, comprised of materials also found within the built environment, such as wood, aluminum, sheet metal, plexiglass, etc. Each piece of material with a mounted image on it will be placed within the built environment, (i.e. on a windowsill, up against a wall, or light poll). The relatively small scale of each piece for this public installation is deliberate, as I want each piece to not only meld into, but also function as a kind of quotation, of the built environment. The dimensions for each completed piece will range from approximately 4” x 5” to 10” x 24”.
I am interested and curious as to how the public / viewers will respond to the works in this installation. Will these works be ignored, damaged, taken, discarded or moved? One way I hope to answer this question is to invite the public to photographically document each piece they find and send me this documentation and any feedback they would like to share to my email gerard.mcneil@gmail.com I will then post this documentation and feedback on my web site.
The medium of photography is more often than not a medium of the found image. There is also a long history of manipulating and transforming the photographic image. I find myself straddling the fence between these two practices as the photographs and photo - based works I create are derived through a kind of dialogue between the found and the constructed. As my primary subject matter is the urban landscape, these landscapes hide and reveal themselves. I can walk down the street one - day and see nothing. The next day I walk down the same street and multiple images emerge. Some of these images will remain unchanged or un-manipulated, while other images will be transformed, either digitally or physically, into the constructed images. How I determine which photographs will be manipulated and which photographs will remain unchanged is very much an intuitive thing.
Further evidence of this creative exploration can be found in my newest photo - based public art project entitled “Reference Materials”. This public installation is comprised of approximately twenty to twenty-five cropped and edited digital photographs of the built environment or urban landscapes. Each of these images will be mounted on a support, comprised of materials also found within the built environment, such as wood, aluminum, sheet metal, plexiglass, etc. Each piece of material with a mounted image on it will be placed within the built environment, (i.e. on a windowsill, up against a wall, or light poll). The relatively small scale of each piece for this public installation is deliberate, as I want each piece to not only meld into, but also function as a kind of quotation, of the built environment. The dimensions for each completed piece will range from approximately 4” x 5” to 10” x 24”.
I am interested and curious as to how the public / viewers will respond to the works in this installation. Will these works be ignored, damaged, taken, discarded or moved? One way I hope to answer this question is to invite the public to photographically document each piece they find and send me this documentation and any feedback they would like to share to my email gerard.mcneil@gmail.com I will then post this documentation and feedback on my web site.
Below are images from Reference Materials public art installation.
Reference Materials Images
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EXTRACTIONS
This series of landscape photographs entitled “Extractions” presents the viewer with a kind of visual dialogue, a visual dialogue between real geographies and virtual landscapes. Each image in this series has been created through a process of digitally extracting and editing elements from existing urban landscape images. Unlike the “real” urban landscape, these constructed landscapes are occupied by no persons, but are open to everyone. Here in lies the challenge for the viewer of how to enter and maneuver over and through these seemingly inaccessible places.
NEW AND ONGOING PROJECTS
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