Created 2019

The Orbs series is a collection of abstract landscape photographs. They are color studies of shadow and light on selected interior walls. Light, as a form, is manipulated, creating the effect of a landscape or horizon, even though the images come from a man-made structure. By playing with color, the vista moves throughout time and space, sometimes appearing familiar, other times, otherworldly. The interesting idea being that upon closer inspection, something seemingly ordinary can be transformed into something extraordinary. A plain, white interior wall becomes a wondrous and imaginative scene. From a personal point of view, this series brought forth an important realization: beautiful photographs can be made even without the means to travel to beautiful places. An interesting corollary is the idea the world inside the camera’s viewfinder becomes a blank canvas, from which an imaginative painting begins.

Inspiration for this series is comes from several renown artists. Hungarian photographer Laszlo Maholy-Nagy’s’ call to ‘defy conventions’ invites experimentation in photographic techniques. Josef Albers’ textbook on color theory,The Interaction of Color is a constant guide. Finally, this series honors Mark Rothko’s powerful abstract work around emotion and color. The title of the series, Orbs, refers to the celestial bodies suggested in the photographs and is also inspired by a personal, lifelong fascination with outer space and planets.