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Can Pekdemir’s Eerie Digital Portraits of Mysterious Creatures

Though they're created digitally, Can Pekdemir's portraits mimic the high-contrast values of daguerreotypes. Pekdemir conjures up strange, furry creatures using 3D modeling software, giving them hefty forms and believable textures. The results look as if these characters walked into the artist's studio and posed for the camera. Presented as framed, archival prints, his pieces could pass for photographs. Pekdemir seems to be testing the boundaries between two and three dimensions, virtual and physical. We often take photography to be a truth-telling medium, but Pekdemir exploits this assumption to engage his viewers with these fictional personalities. Take a look at some of his recent work below.

Though they’re created digitally, Can Pekdemir’s portraits mimic the high-contrast values of daguerreotypes. Pekdemir conjures up strange, furry creatures using 3D modeling software, giving them hefty forms and believable textures. The results look as if these characters walked into the artist’s studio and posed for the camera. Presented as framed, archival prints, his pieces could pass for photographs. Pekdemir seems to be testing the boundaries between two and three dimensions, virtual and physical. We often take photography to be a truth-telling medium, but Pekdemir exploits this assumption to engage his viewers with these fictional personalities. Take a look at some of his recent work below.

Topics

Can Pekdemir, digital art, Photography

Debra K Burger, Gothic, Odd Nerdrum, Photo Manipulation, Photography

September 5, 2015

Oakland, California based photographer Debra Kay Burger, aka DK Burger, creates ethereal and provocative images that look like they are from another time. Using traditional darkroom techniques, she gives her work the qualities of foggy vintage snapshots with a touch of Odd Nerdum. Some of these techniques include dodging, burning, and masking, which look similar to digital manipulations, but everything is done by hand.

Preview: Mark Gmehling’s “Plastic” at RWE

digital art, illustration, Mark Gmehling, RWE

August 21, 2014

Mark Gmehling's 3D-rendered creations are instantly recognizable for their playful textures: rubbery legs that weave and stretch; gummy bodies that bounce off the floor; goo that drips and metal that glimmers. The artist (see our extensive interview in our current issue, Hi-Fructose Vol. 32) began as an analog illustrator and even cites graffiti as an early influence. These days, his digital illustrations lay the groundwork for prints, murals and sculptures. Gmehling has an exhibition titled "Plastic" opening tonight at RWE in his hometown of Dortmund, Germany filled with satirical, off-kilter pieces.

Gilles Soudry’s Haunting Photographs of Billowing Smoke

Gilles Soudry, Photography, surreal

December 30, 2015

Clouds of smoke appear to take on strange and beautiful shapes in French photographer Gilles Soudry's images. He calls them "Volutes", referring to the smoke's hazy and spiraling effects, and some have described looking at his work like being transported into a dark otherworld, while others appreciate its cinematic qualities (we saw Donnie Darko's rabbit "Frank"). Like a sort of x-ray colored Rorschach Test, these reactions to Soudry's photographs demonstrate his unique ability to mystify his viewers.

On View: William Basso’s “Mise-en-scene” at Last Rites Gallery

assemblage, digital art, William Basso

April 13, 2015

William Basso's current show at New York's Last Rites Gallery, "Mise-en-scene," takes its name from a French theater term that describes all the elements in a stage production or film — the actors, lighting, scenery, etc. Basso treats his mixed-media assemblages something like tiny film sets. He begins by sculpting his figures out of a hodgepodge of materials, such as clay, cardboard, string, paper, wire, tape, wood, hair, and odd bits of cloth. Then, he photographs these sculptures, alters them in PhotoShop, and uses the resulting digital prints to create textured collages. The final works live somewhere between sculpture and digital art. For "Mise-en-scene," his assemblages are displayed alongside the original sculptures and 3D objects from which they originated. The show is on view through May 16 at Last Rites.

Can Pekdemir’s Eerie Digital Portraits of Mysterious Creatures

Ethereal and Provocative Hand-Manipulated Photographs by DK Burger

Preview: Mark Gmehling’s “Plastic” at RWE

Gilles Soudry’s Haunting Photographs of Billowing Smoke

On View: William Basso’s “Mise-en-scene” at Last Rites Gallery

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