The Vault: Christopher B. Fowler - The Shapes Arise

Christopher B. Fowler

"Although I have been taking photographs since high school, I have been exhibiting my work since 2010.

I started out as a graphic artist, got interested in making animated movies in middle and high school, shifted over to live action movies (this was in the golden age of super-8 home-movie film), developed a particular interest in cinematography (an otherwise largely-forgotten film of Ingmar Bergman's called, 'The Touch,' was a particular inspiration); then in college I saw a print of Edward Steichen's famous early color photograph of the Flatiron Building and it's been photography ever since.

One statement that has resonated with me is Georgia O’Keeffe’s observation that what interests us are the abstract qualities even of naturalistic images—what appeals to us about mountains and rocks and trees (and buildings) are not that they’re mountains and rocks and trees, but rather the lines, planes and textures they present to us.

My work has appeared in galleries throughout the United States as well as, now, London, Paris and Athens."

Artist Statement about The Shapes Arise:

"I’ve found three statements that resonate with my approach to photography:

The first is from Dylan Thomas, who said 'art is about telling the truth.'

The second is from Georgia O’Keeffe, who said 'what appeals to us about mountains and rocks and trees is not that they’re mountains and rocks and trees, but rather the lines, planes and textures they present to us.'

The third is from Joseph Campbell, who said 'it’s the task of the artist to convey the radiance behind the physical reality.'

I don’t do photoshop or otherwise manipulate images, aside from cropping and, when needed, truing the horizontals. I don’t even use filters or a lot of different lenses (Admittedly I do have a zoom lens, but my tendency is to use it in the wide-angle length so as to get the greatest possible depth of focus).

The images are quite literally I saw through the lens. They may not be technically sophisticated, but they are-- or at least they are meant to be--deeply felt. "

www.christopherbfowler-photographer.org