Artist Statement for Kevin Hinkle:
My primary focus as a photographer/digital artist is my fusion work (images that are composed of two or more digital photographs layered into one). I was introduced to the layering technique as a graphic design tool. However, I began to play with layering as a means of combining images from disparate contexts to communicate messages that would have been difficult for me to convey through photography alone. I like “fusioning” because it retains a spirit of play and experimentation and continues to surprise me with its unexpected results.
My application of this process covers a broad range of themes and subjects, but a significant percentage of my work over the last ten years has focused on what I call “Disrupted Landscapes.” Like many people, I’m powerfully drawn to landscapes—from meadows to mountains and seascapes to deserts. At the same time, I question the way we, as a species, both revere and ruin the land.
I explore the tension in this relationship by, in some cases, juxtaposing human-made objects (bridges, buildings, small objects, text) with pristine natural settings. In other images, the disruption is not readily identifiable, but the environment in these works appears to be disturbed by a force—a violent movement, loud noises, perhaps, or a destructive energy. In this particular series, the images move from relatively minor human incursions (a white room in the middle of a meadow) to more apocalyptic scenes of environmental destruction.
The manipulation of these disparate digital photographs invokes the way human incursions spawned by consumerism, overpopulation, greed, and even nostalgia threaten the natural world which we claim to revere.
My primary focus as a photographer/digital artist is my fusion work (images that are composed of two or more digital photographs layered into one). I was introduced to the layering technique as a graphic design tool. However, I began to play with layering as a means of combining images from disparate contexts to communicate messages that would have been difficult for me to convey through photography alone. I like “fusioning” because it retains a spirit of play and experimentation and continues to surprise me with its unexpected results.
My application of this process covers a broad range of themes and subjects, but a significant percentage of my work over the last ten years has focused on what I call “Disrupted Landscapes.” Like many people, I’m powerfully drawn to landscapes—from meadows to mountains and seascapes to deserts. At the same time, I question the way we, as a species, both revere and ruin the land.
I explore the tension in this relationship by, in some cases, juxtaposing human-made objects (bridges, buildings, small objects, text) with pristine natural settings. In other images, the disruption is not readily identifiable, but the environment in these works appears to be disturbed by a force—a violent movement, loud noises, perhaps, or a destructive energy. In this particular series, the images move from relatively minor human incursions (a white room in the middle of a meadow) to more apocalyptic scenes of environmental destruction.
The manipulation of these disparate digital photographs invokes the way human incursions spawned by consumerism, overpopulation, greed, and even nostalgia threaten the natural world which we claim to revere.
Kevin Hinkle Photography "Fusioning"