Naomi Klimek
WHIMSY.
Lush textures, light, contrasts that today still dazzle. Aesthetic boundaries were broken and license was given to wistful gaze.
French Impressionist paintings have held me in absolute fascination from the first moment I laid eyes on them in art class. In Paris, brightly lit surfaces, wistful misty days and playful patches of sunlight danced before my eyes and once again I was completely enamoured. Their works project a brilliance, a flush of life and vibrancy that excites me to my very soul.
Through the reminiscence of beauty and the fanciful nature of Impressionist painting my photographic series was born, and matters of 'days spent by the seaside' became the stage. In the making of this series, I have drawn upon my own intimacy with whimsical imagery, for it embodies not only the subject matter but my own lighthearted and playful application. Through this work I revere the mastery of the Impressionists and their power to evoke emotion and activate dreamy distant memories.
Each image was achieved through a digital process of combining several photographic layers with an original base photo. These layers are photos of sunlight, moonlight, clouds, textured landscape surfaces, fabrics and hand made panels of materials that provide texture and contrast. As a result, each photograph appears as painterly, inviting the audience to take time… to sink within… to look back and to remember.
WHIMSY, 2020
Photographic prints
420mm x 594mm
