Ellen Jantzen- Artist of the Month- May

This month we have selected a photographer by the name of Ellen Jantzen. When looking at her website, it's clear that she has a deep connection with nature. Nature is raw, it is our home and our sanctuary, so we as humans are drawn to it. However, these are not your average landscape photographs, there is something much deeper here than a simple appreciation for nature.

Whetting the Waters - Ellen Jantzen

Her most recent series, Disturbing the Spirits, feels like a dream...one where your mind lands you in the middle of some remote, natural territory and no matter how hard you try to blink your surroundings into clarity, there's still bits that are in flux.

Alameda- Ellen Jantzen

This work feels melancholy and bittersweet, as if someone or something you love is fading away right in front of you and you become lost. Ellen achieves these complex emotions through her thoughtful and deliberate photo manipulation.

Promise of Spring - Ellen Jantzen

I have heard Darryll mention many times that when he manipulates the camera while taking photos there isn't a single movement that is arbitrary. It is clear to me that Ellen is making the same kind of choices, in order to get the final image to really say what she wants it to. Each picture feels like it has a different message, yet speaks to her bigger message in some way. Read part of her statement below:

"In 'Disturbing the Spirits' I am using imagery to convey my feelings about the state of nature, the nature of trees, and how to express their connection to past, present and future. By obscuring a portion of the image through a veil, I strive to heighten the remaining reality through discovery and reflection."

Threshold- Ellen Jantzen

Ellen takes in her surroundings, captures them, and injects her unique vision into them. It is this kind of delicate process that allows an artist to not only define their work, but also themselves.

Please be sure to check out the rest of Ellen's work on her website: www.ellenjantzen.com
Her work can be found at these galleries currently representing her:

The Susan Spiritus Gallery in Newport Beach CA: http://susanspiritusgallery.com/

The Bruno David Gallery in St. Louis MO: http://www.brunodavidgallery.com

-Chelsea

Artist of the Month- January/February- Alex McLeod

Because it is now February and we missed January's artist of the month due to Photo L.A. madness, I wanted to change gears and bring something really different under our spotlight to start off the new year. This artist is doing something so unique and fascinating, I find it hard to put into words how it makes me feel. This artist belongs in their own category of art-making; he is BOLDLY defining art and that is why I present to you, Alex McLeod.

Alex McLeod

When I first saw these images, I envisioned the artist meticulously creating miniatures and then placing each detail by hand into a 3D landscape and then photographing the finished product under the appropriate lighting. All of this is true, but what makes this exceptionally intriguing is that it is all done within the computer. There is no photography involved. These are fully digitally rendered images that McLeod is creating.

Immediately, my mind begins to journey through the landscapes and drink them up. They are so lush, elaborate, and inviting. Something I noticed shortly after is that there aren't characters in these images. This lack of people or animals becomes eerie, a feeling which is enhanced by the fact that these are such joyful and fantastical environments. So where are all the people?

Alex McLeod

This question allows me to begin to picture the kind of wacky characters that would exist in these environments and the kind of stories they would tell. They have a similar effect of matte paintings, that were once used in film making to provide an environment that, pre-3D rendering technology, would have been very difficult to build by hand. Now, they are done digitally and generally used for the same purpose, or for pre-visualization in movies, video games, etc.

Digital matte painting

I also begin to think of the I Spy books I read as a kid. Within the books, each page opened up to a new landscape, filled to the brim with objects you were meant to search for and identify. Again, when these books were first made, they weren't using 3D modeling software. They were building miniature sets, the way I originally thought McLeod was creating his images. 

Walter Wick creating a miniature set for an I Spy book.

This is so impressive to me because beyond the fact that McLeod is imagining up these whimsical, colorful spaces that I have never seen the likes of, he is rendering them in such a way that allows us to believe that these "sets" physically exist behind a camera somewhere.

Alex McLeod

In McLeod's art, all is not really what it appears to be. His technique is complicated, I'm sure, and something that no other artist will likely be able to imitate. In a way, Darryll has a similar approach to his art. He's making images that one may look at and try to identify the technique. In the end, what he's doing is a lot more complicated than meets the eye. I think Alex McLeod is able to say the same thing. In this way, he's blazing a trail and defining his own brand of art.


To see more of Alex's work, please visit his website here.


-Chelsea