Publisher’s Note: I recently discovered Dean Pasch’s stunning photography and asked if I could spotlight his art in an issue of Atticus Review. Dean kindly obliged and matched his work with each piece that appears in The Feast Issue, edited by Michelle Ross. Dean is a poet and artist—born and bred in England. He has lived in Munich, Germany since 1990.
Artist Statement
Much of my visual art explores the medium of photography—yet rather than seeing a photograph as a reproduction of the reality the eye sees, I use the photographic image as a starting point to explore what the eye sees not as a final point of arrival but rather a journey—a journey of layers, of juxtapositions—as a palimpsest where the eye and the mind is encouraged to see what might be there and not only what is clearly visible.
Perception is the theme running through my work—how we see, what we see—and it embraces the belief that art is well served by exploring mystery, that art is a form of alchemy—transforming the raw materials gathered by the act of seeing into new things, new possibilities—an environment familiar yet at the same time generating a quality of difference.
In a world so dominated by the word / by Logos—images and their creation offer a liberation, offer the possibility to journey beyond rational analysis and explore an emotional and psychic life defined by both the act of looking at life outside our eyes but also a life within—in the way dreams contain powerful images yet are not seen by our physical eyes.
The formal concerns of my work also include an interest in stretching the borders of the photographic image—allowing it to become painterly, exploring the zone between painting (and Fine Art) and pure classical photography (as in a photographically captured ‘imprint’ of the world witnessed by the retinal field)—encouraging the viewer to wonder how the image has been created, asking if it is photography or painting, print or some hybrid.
Ultimately what matters to me as an artist is the power of the art to attract attention, the ability of the art to win time and interest from the viewer—so that she or he can choose to spend time forming a relationship with the art. And in this way taking the art further.
– Dean Pasch
Links to more of Dean’s work:
http://www.escapeintolife.com/photography/dean-pasch/
This is a lovely way to end 2015 and begin 2016 Dan – thanks for the opportunity to read some terrific prose and poetry – a fascinating exploration of the theme of ‘Feast’ – refreshingly so.
warm wishes
Dean
Our pleasure, Dean. Thank you so much for contributing your evocative work.