(970) 927-9668
Ben Timpson standing with “Caroline Felicity Antone” at Ann Korologos Gallery– an enlarged digital photograph of a piece created entirely of butterfly wings
Ben Timpson, the photography and new-media studio coordinator for Anderson Ranch Arts Center, has been developing two series: End of the Roll and Act Natural. The two series dive into the differences of analog versus digital photography while honoring their connection. Below, the artist shares his insight into the series’, using two works available at Ann Korologos Gallery as examples.
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Ben Timpson, “Profile of an Idea,” Transfer, Resin, Aluminium, 62 x 32 in
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Sunset, Sunrise. Analog versus Digital; is there a difference? Is one medium better than the other? Analog and digital photography are both used in capturing the same thing: a two-dimensional representation of an image. I am a part of an “analog generation”. I grew up using film, color processors and darkrooms as the means for creating photography. I see an evolution in photography’s creative process. The adaptation of technology has depleted the hands-on process that analog photography embraced. With digital techniques, the process becomes instantaneous. It is heartbreaking and freeing at the same time. Photography is consumed faster than any other medium. Thanks to technology, we are exposed to hundreds upon hundreds of photographs every day. Photography is now a language and a survival tool for communication. My photographic series explores and symbolizes the transformation of analog photography to digital photography. A tearing and ripping effect, the sun and the moon, polar opposites and one who needs another. A balance through chaos is formed. Using analog slides (Ektachrome), and natural detritus I form compositions on a light table 1” x 2” with glass slides that are then photographed and enlarged.
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Ben Timpson, “Choice to Send,” Transfer, Resin, Aluminium, 74 x 36 in
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I use a combination of photography and painting to visualize the subconscious nature of humanity. I am fascinated by choice making and the paradoxes of consciousness. Choices ripple out to affect our lives in ways that are not always clear or understood, but are often felt intrinsically. I turn to the beasts, forms, and textures of the natural world in my work, and use these symbols to reveal secret dramas and dichotomies, and illuminate the natures that position humanity within the microcosm and macrocosm of the universe.
Being alive is hard to express through any medium, and so I look to the bodies and textures of former living forms to connect the viewer conceptually to primal forces, psychological states, and deep-seated, archetypal trials. Leaves, insects, seeds, fur, the bodies of dead reptiles and amphibians, and other natural detritus are collaged and manipulated to illustrate clear moments of struggle. The leaf is used as the symbol of human individuality within the collective whole. Housed inside individual human figures, recognizable living forms are juxtaposed to signify voices in contest. The animal forms represent the choices themselves: one choice will consume the other in this battle— to eat or be eaten, an epic struggle playing out.
—Ben Timpson
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Ben Timpson meticulously creating mixed media collages with delicate butterfly wings, which he then photographs square by square and combines them into a large-scale digital photograph.
Learn more about Ben Timpson by visiting Ann Korologos Gallery at 211 Midland Avenue in Basalt, Colorado, or calling (970) 927-9668.
