John Grzinich
I am a freelance artist with a rather complex history and diverse range
of artistic practices. I studied architecture before moving into fine
art. My work involves using different media including sound,
photography, performance and moving image. Some consistent themes in my
work include perception of space and place, site-specific responses,
environmental awareness and understanding the post-natural context of
living in the anthropocene. Currently I am a professor of media art at
the Estonian Academy of Arts in Tallinn. Originally I am from upstate
New York. After living in three different states in the US I moved to
Europe in the late 1990s and have been based in Estonia since 2003.
Part of me has always used photography to re-imagine the world rather
than represent it. I have always felt uncomfortable with the idea that
the purpose of art to give and accurate representation of "reality", you
know, that way it is often taught in grade school and celebrated by
technology. It is more interesting for me to explore the notion that we
need to define our world by re-creating it through ongoing mythologies
and fictions, to use art as an expressive tool of the imagination. With
photographs I practice taking "snapshots" or framed elements of any
number of ongoing narratives within a given context. I don't give an
explicit explanation or concept with my photos as I like to allow the
viewer their own space of interpretation. However, I like to believe
that the ideas implicit in one's practice do carry through to the
audience (as with many kinds of art). Maybe a simpler way of thinking
about approach to photography would be like taking random samples or
still from and ongoing fictional film. The role of the viewer is then to
apply their own imaginary interpretation of a longer narrative from
isolated images.
I like the idea of photography as a permanent form of research, in
making observations, samples and studies of human altered environments
and the objects or structures placed within them. While I have a
preference for the 'grey zones' of rural environments, what most people
think of as 'human vs natural', I also think this carries over clearly
in making images of urban spaces. I'm a real process person who sees
places and things in permanent states of transition (whether human made
or not). If something catches my eye, it is probably in some phase of
being constructed or deconstructed, growing or decaying. A subject can
be as ephemeral as a seasonal light or as heavy as an infrastructural
object embedded within a place (think of large objects like power
stations or mines). Maybe there is a possibility to capture the way two
contrasting elements of a place interact or compliment each other in a
way that raises a question. Either way, a photograph (or sound recording
for that matter) is a reminder that a certain situation only exists at
that given moment in time. If I feel inspired then I can attempt to
capture it as an image (or sound) 'time object'. This 'object' functions
as a 'branch' that starts to 'grow' and live a life of its own (one can
read up on Object Oriented Ontology as a related philosophical
approach).
They say the best camera is the one you have with you. I agree with that
but the hard part is which camera (or cameras) to take along. I have
collected a few over the years. Regardless, I always have one or two
cameras with me, sometimes with different formats or types of film. If I
had to choose a favorite format it would be 6x6 TLR but for the sake of
convenience I often end up shooting with 35mm cameras (you can always
carry a point and shoot with you). I like the idea of using 'old'
mechanical cameras with manual lenses and seeing how they can 'distort
reality' so to speak. It's both fun and challenging to use and maintain
a camera that is older than you (and I'm not so young anymore). The same
goes with film which helps give that special element of randomness, not
knowing quite how a type of film will add character to an image (b+w vs
color, new vs expired). That's at least how I think of it, a known
process that is open to chance. If I want a predictable image then I'll
use a digital camera (which I use generally for documentation or
filmmaking for example). I also develop most of the film I shoot myself,
black and white and C-41 color reversal. Once you get the hang of it,
developing is not so complicated and it allows for another level of
variation and experimentation. At the moment I don't have a darkroom but
hope to get back into printing at some point.