Through a new collaboration, Behold will occasionally feature content from Christopher Jobson’s wonderful site, Colossal.
Catherine Nelson.
Sydney-based artist Catherine Nelson refers to herself as a painter with a camera, in that she doesn’t see the world as a photographer does, but instead uses photos as a medium with which to create these fantastic miniature worlds. Each work is comprised of hundreds of photographs that she digitally stitches together, drawing from her extensive background in visual special effects: She has worked on such films as Moulin Rouge, Harry Potter, and 300. Of her work Nelson says:
When I embraced the medium of photography, I felt that taking a picture that represented only what was within the frame of the lens wasn’t expressing my personal and inner experience of the world around me. With the eye and training of a painter and with years of experience behind me in film visual effects, I began to take my photos to another level. The “Future Memories” series comprises 20 floating worlds, meticulously composed with thousands of assembled details. Visual poetry, nature photography and digital techniques blend together to give shape to these transcendental landscapes. The result is a contemporary pictorial mythology that subtly reminds the viewer of a profound truth: that it is in the flourishing variety of the local that the fate of the world resides.
Catherine Nelson.
Catherine Nelson.
Catherine Nelson.
Catherine Nelson.
Catherine Nelson.
Although the pieces are quite gorgeous to look at right here on Slate, it’s hard to convey the resolution and scale of each piece, which measure about 40×40″ (100x100cm), a level of detail that requires Nelson to spend nearly a month on each piece. It was my assumption based on the perspective and detail that some of these works must be somehow partially rendered in 3-D; however, she assured me via email that this is not the case. Though she uses digital editing to assemble them, they are almost purely based in photography. Incredible.
Catherine Nelson.
Catherine Nelson.
Nelson will have work later this year at Gallery NOW in Seoul, Korea, and at CONTEXT in Miami. You can see much more of her work at Galerie Paris-Beijing.
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