Michael Dickins - Carved - 7 x 7 on 8 x 10 - Pigment Ink Print - $125

Michael Dickins - Gallery Manager, Curtis R. Harley Art Gallery - I am an interdisciplinary artist whose work is created with a variety of media including photography, printmaking, drawing, installation, sound and video. My balance of both digital and material processes allows me to create pieces that are both expressive and engaging. I am interested in the impact that the technological advances of photography has had, and is having, on our visual culture. My current work has been focused on the importance of the snapshot in both historical and contemporary societies. My fascination with mobile photography started years ago when I became unable to spend the time necessary for film photography. Though the speed, quality, instant gratification and share ability of mobile photography were alluring; it was my knowledge and experience of traditional photo processes that allowed me to merge with digital to blend aesthetics with speed and enabled me to focus on image-making. Apart from mobile photography, my art practice puts focus on mundane imagery by creating drawings using traditional materials, ink transfer drawings, installations and sound scores based on the history and memory generated from found photographs: photographs of my own and of others that are given to me. I am attracted to images that are taken not necessarily for “art” purposes, but for documentation purposes. The photographic recordings of people for remembrance/historical purposes, emotional purposes, and even as entertainment are the primary images that are used within my work. The images that I am drawn to and choose to use in my work have both potentially strong formal aesthetic qualities and content that is directed, yet open to interpretation.