, a.k.a. Shawn Hansen, is a photographer and digital artist living in Canada. In this interview Shawn shares his connection with nature and how it inspires his work, as well as his thoughts on abstract art and his current projects.

Q. Tell us a little about yourself. What's the weather like?

A. Not a whole lot to tell, I'm a young artist working on the transition from student to professional while still trying to learn. That is like a lot of other people I'm sure, only I take myself and everything I do way too seriously. I've been around DA since 2002 and stay around because of all the great friends I have here and all the cool artists I can keep an eye on, been a Senior Member for awhile but until recently have not been very active in my own account because I spend a lot of my time running *resurgere with my team there [but that's another story...]. My day job is freelance graphic and web design.

Weather is getting warmer, getting some plant life starting to return and the last of the ice is melting away, prime photography season is not far off.


Q. Your gallery is full of beautiful and interesting abstracts from nature. What motivates you to capture these images? What do you intend to communicate with these and your more conceptual works?

A. Everyone finds their inspiration triggered by different things, we gravitate to subjects that inspire us and that we feel are expressive whatever those subjects may be. There are as many inspirations behind art as there are artists I guess, looking around DA one of the most interesting things is the diversity of subjects and messages that inspire people, anyhow mine is strongest when I'm out in nature though. I feel most connected when I'm alone out there, with the clearest perspective and an expanded awareness that helps me focus and do my best work. I feel very in tune, in a way that is difficult to explain. My muse is not really nature itself I think, but rather the experience of nature. Of being there, of trying to understand it, the depth of that experience. That's what motivates me I suppose, and it's one facet or another of that experience that I'm always trying to communicate. I feel gifted by the experiences I can have in nature and am compelled to share that, or try. It's likely impossible to share it fully I have to admit, but what may be possible is sharing my perspective and thereby maybe helping viewers become more receptive to these sort of rich experiences themselves in their own lives. I know I come to the art of others looking to find that sort of enrichment of my own perspective.

As far as the difference between the abstract, conceptual, and other work goes, a lot of times these borders of a piece are pretty porous. The reality is most pieces are a mix of approaches. If a story is told in a very visually formal way rather then symbolically I tend to list it as abstract, but to a degree every image is an abstraction and also every abstraction represents something to me. Sometimes relationships and symbols can trigger the viewer in the way I want, other times an abstract approach using visual form is more effective, so I keep my options open. Whatever suits the subject matter is the style I'll take on... Whatever the style or means, the goal of engaging people with the work is the same. That's always the first challenge, to grab peoples' interest with a piece so they will invest in the process of looking at it and into it, once they are interested and have a relationship with the image then more subtle communication can take place.


Q. Tell us a little about your process. Do you have your camera with you at all times, or do you have a plan when you go out?

A. It's difficult to speak 'a little' on a subject as big as process, but I think the breakdown of stages of making a photograph as I see them is worth explaining. Seeing something in the world with meaning, forming a clear concept of what it means and exactly how the final print should look to reflect that meaning, then capturing the something in an exposure, then taking the exposure into the darkroom to make it match the concept. [Any misstep can ruin the piece, but the worst is poorly forming a concept. If you don't have a good idea ahead of time, you may as well not shoot imho] After that you have a final form, a platform for what you are trying to say, but I don't think process really stops until the viewer is engaged and touched by the work. Until the audience becomes a part of the process, and your message continues on through them... I've often wondered, if it is even possible to 'make Art'? Or if all we can do is make images that aim to express our meanings, which become Art only when someone else takes them in and connects with them. It's really the audience that makes art in a way, by completing the process, receiving what's shared. That leap of content between people, the communication, is the critical step in the process imo.

As far as practical process, I watch the weather and only go out to shoot at times when I think the quality of light is suitable. I used to go out constantly, every day almost regardless of the light, and while that made a lot of photos the percentage of useable images was very low. Now I go out less often only when the external and my internal conditions feel right, but the percentage of good work is much higher so it's evened out. But I save a lot of time, and am more rested a dedicated when a good conditions come around, it's a better way to work I think... I don't have a camera with me all the time no, but feel like I'm always looking through the lens. I never really turn it off I'm always composing and looking at the world as art, I suppose. One aspect of art in general, which is especially strong in photography, is sharing the way we see the world. The world is a beautiful place full of interest and deeper meanings, my visual experience of the world is based on that sensibility, and therefore so are my photos.


Q. What projects are you currently working on?

A. I just finished putting most of my photo backlog online here at DA as prints, the images that seemed worth printing at lest so some five hundred prints. I'm working on a photo-book and my portfolio website now, which are both big projects too. Progress professionally is important for my progress artistically at this stage for financial reasons, need more resources for equipment and travel etc, so working that angle is where my attention has to be right now. I'd like to get some gallery shows lined up and will be working on that.

Of course with summer on it's way and the snow melting, I'm looking forward to constantly making more images. Life, is an on-going project, and it involves making a lot of art!... I suppose you could say I had an emotionally intense season this winter, felt certain things for the first time that where very strong, and still are strong to be honest. And I think that will have an impact on my work moving forward. I don't know if more emotionally 'mature' would be the term, but more experienced at least, and more willing to do work on an emotional drive instead of the intellectual or spiritual drive that usually pushes me. I admire all artists that can use their art to express their emotions I can't do that well but I'm going to try to learn, which would be a big shift and a big project adjusting.


Q. Do you ever work in other media besides photography?

A. I came to digital art working in photo manipulation, starting about seven or eight years ago, I'm rusty but respectably skilled. I originally started taking photos just as stock for my manipulations, which is how Resurgere started fyi. But I had more natural talent for photography it came with more ease, also the traditional style photo manipulation was really starting to disappoint me and I needed something more avant-garde I guess, I mostly only do conceptual composites etc now. I also work in vector [mostly commercially designing cooperate ID etc] again with some high degree of skill, I do a little 3D modeling/rendering but with less skill, and also digital drawing with my tablet and I'm just starting to learn more about full on digital painting. So in the digital arena I'm multi-discipline, photography is my focus at the moment though.

I can't so much as draw a stickman if I don't have my digital tablet, if I have to use a pencil or something I mean. I have no skill with traditional [non-digital] media.


Q. What are your favorite abstract works? Choose one of your own, and one from another artist.

A.

Ghostcraft was an important step for me in moving towards more abstract work, before that I was not as interested in just about purely abstract potential.


It's hard to pick one artist let alone one image. I always find `Senecal's work engaging, the abstracts and other styles as well. I would not say we are the same [since he does not take himself overly seriously like I do, and he is not unpleasantly abrasive and hostile like I usually am], but I think we have something in common and whatever that is it's something that is pretty rare, and I appreciate seeing it in him and his work... There are other abstract pieces in my fav collections worth checking out too imho, I try to get out and see what other abstract art is out there but am not as hip as I'd like to be on the subject. Watching the group here will help with that I bet. Still a lot to learn and see from other artists.


Q. What do you want people to know about you and your work that they may not already?

A. Nothing, I'd rather stay mysterious.

But if you have to hear something; I have a lot of fears about people misunderstanding my photos, I guess that is based on vanity and the high opinion I have of the effort that goes into each one, wanting a pat on the back in return. I get wrongly categorized as a nature photographer pretty often, when really I'm trying to photograph our humanity through nature, but people look at the work wrongly too often and miss my point. They don't take away the enjoyment they could then, and that is more tragic then me missing out on acclaim etc. Maybe mine is an idiom of one, because the vocabulary I use is not conventionally paired to the content of what I'm trying to say. I'm working on making myself clearer, and on being less vain, but in the mean time I'd like people to know that; my work is not really 'about' nature as such, it's about other things, things we can't see directly, and they should look at the work with that in mind. That goes for abstracts which is obvious, but for all my other work as well. With an open mind you'll enjoy it more I'm sure, also I'll get more pats on the back so it's win win.


Thank for the chance to talk, and thanks to anyone still awake for checking this out.

Here is a small selection of work from `wroth's gallery:





Please take some time to visit Wroth's galleries to see more of his excellent work. [link]

Thanks to `Wroth for taking the time to answer our questions and provide us with such interesting insight into his art! Interviewed by =peggymintun.