John Charbonneau

I am interested in icons, especially for how they can be manipulated. To that end, I work to create images with a mysterious dimension, a visual ambiguity between the real and imaginary. Each piece is comprised of several to many digitally combined images. To create a playfully surreal outcome, I employ various image making strategies including the use of extraordinary color, transformation, repetition, substitution, disruption of scale, and inconsistent perspective. The direction of the work takes on a life of its own, which I could not have predicted at the outset. Wide and flat becomes tall and narrow. Weather changes and day becomes night. When to stop? There is no ending, as previously ‘completed’ images are often revised and/or incorporated in new work. Along the way I make prints on Fujiflex Crystal Archive Supergloss paper in limited editions.