Resolve40 speaks with Jessica Lutz about her photo-mosaics
Recent exhibitions of photography have brought into focus the nature of the medium, when used as an alternative to the visual arts that came before, as a more elegant and, in its infancy, exciting approach to rendering the reality in the eye of the artist and presenting it for all to see. Capturing the same light in the same moment that inspired the photographer to shoot in the first place, it creates an immediately recognizable image. It is then up to the artist in the balance of the process, to see that the viewer makes the desired connection to her perceived reality.
r40:What do you see when you frame a subject in your camera?
JL: A moment when nature stops me in my tracks, a face in the rockscape, a
ray of white light piercing the depths of river water, sun glowing
through tangled arms of a cactus. When I am inspired, when there is
something to be discovered, a moment...I photograph. Nature is alive,
ever-shifting, elusive – my work is to capture the moment that has
spoken to me.
r40: Tell us about something that surprised you?
JL: The mosaics surprise me, especially when they directly reflect my
dreamstate. I often experience moving imagery very similar to the
forms and patterns seen in the mosaics. Sometimes, I set out to create
something I see; other times, I begin to play with the images, and what
I have perceived in mind reveals itself in tangible form. To me, the
mosaics provide a glimpse into my dream state, a veiled reality which
rest just beyond (or deeper within) the perceptible sphere. It amazes
me to see imagery emerge that so closely aligns with this seemingly far
away dimension, and reminds me that wholeness encompasses so much more
than we understand from our direct perception of ordinary reality.
r40: You seek out images in exotic locales, does locale influence the end
result? or are you searching for something already when you plan a trip.
JL:I continue to visit locales where the natural world remains expansive
and wild, and connect with people who see nature as a multidimensional
living body. I both travel to experience wild places and the people who
serve as guardians of them. Hopefully, the mosaics reveal the depth,
dimension, and essence of these places.
r40: Is reinvention or seeing things a new way a motif?
JL: In "seeing things a new way," I think a lot about what is unseen. By
recognizing the existence of that which I can not see, that “existence”
or mystery can be given space to begin to reveal itself. As new
vision and experience is incorporated into "perceived" reality,
perceptions shift, transform, and reorganize into states of greater
wholeness. Reinvention is a natural process seen in the environment,
which constantly reorganizes itself into greater states of complexity
and balance. We, as part of this natural law, are also all evolving…and
forever reinventing.
r40: What did I not ask but you need to answer?
JL: We talked alot about what I see and my own process. What intrigues me
most is the "Rorschach" quality of the work. People see whatever it is
they see in the images - faces, symbols, creatures. This, to me, is the
magic of all expressive art.
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