Spirits in the Material World

About

Virginia Visual Arts presents: ‘Spirits in The Material World’ by multimedia artist Graham Fink. Graham blurs the boundaries between photography and painting to investigate the human spirit. Merging hyperrealism and photorealism as well as elements in old masters and figure painters of the twentieth century, the play on light in each image creates a special image of reality. Graham seeks to go beyond the photograph to emphasise the psychological state of the image.

Unlike the lens of a camera, a human’s perception is dramatically filtered by our level of attention and emotions. Photography’s speed (involving shutter and exposures) reveals a new world not accessible to typical human perception. As a result, photographic forms can acquire an abstract quality that we rarely experience when looking - an overflowing freeze-frame, a continuum of movement placed into one singular presentation. A lens is much more than a representative, it’s a window to another realm.

The nude figure has always been the source of inspiration for the artist over the course of his history. It creates an instant emotional connection between the artist and the viewer, one rooted in shared humanity and spiritual ideals. The body contains the most widely known shapes and common forms.

The series exhibiting experiments with ultra-long exposure; creating layers of space in one single frame, speaking to the complexities and depth of the human spirit and pysche. In doing this, none of these images are simply seen as is, there is always another. Spirits in The Material World is further inquiry into mind as process and a continuum of the artists’ practice exploring ideas of the subconscious and human creativity. Fink is interested in watching the uncensored mind at work and witnessing narratives as they arise. In the very act of watching, the viewer affects the phenomenon – by looking at the works, the audience becomes involved in the creative process.

In 2020, he exhibited In Transition, a new series of monotypes. Earlier in 2018, his show Duets, a photographic collaboration with fashion designer Ziggy Chen, which was held at Rankin’s Annoy Gallery. For the past three years, Graham Fink has also been an agent to the infamous AI humanoid ‘Sophia’, created by Hanson Robotics. Fink is currently working with Sophia on a variety of projects to demonstrate the creative possibilities of AI.

About VirginiaVisualArts

VirginiaVisualArts is the off-spring of Virginia Damtsa, curator, artist agent, art dealer, who used to run Riflemaker Gallery in London’s Soho. VirginiaVisualArts is a rotating gallery with exhibitions across the UK and abroad and art fairs.