I am a digital photographer, who focuses on constructing bold, abstract
montages of the cement sculptures, that rise from the earth in an
arboretum near my home. I’m drawn to the strength of the cement sculptures, their size, their presence and their ability to change the landscape, to modify the empty space around them.
I have always been inspired by Picasso’s Cubism and sculptures. In
Cubism, objects are analyzed, broken apart, and reassembled. When I
start to manipulate my digital images I consider space, energy and line,
texture and light. I grow the final composition from photographic fragments that
echo carefully selected portions of the original sculptures. I use these fragments
over and over again, but each time I create a montage I see the fragments in a
new way and they say something quite different to me. I carefully choose what to
subtract and what to leave in. I enjoy the “studied” spontaneity of this process.
Though I begin with a recognizable photographic image of a cement sculpture, firmly anchored in the landscape, I strive to build a new and abstracted version of that sculpture, and, at the same time, to overlay a vision that implies my experience of it. In the end, this vision is my most important concern – what I
see and what it is telling me as I create the montage.
© Nancy Ridenour | Lotus Studios