Girls in dresses

 When I was in graduate school, two friends and I had a group show called "Girls in Dresses" (a theme which continues to define my life).  I've always been drawn to artists whose work takes on this aesthetic.  Many photographers and illustrators utilize this visually appealing trope in a purely superficial manner, creating seductive imagery that entices yet lacks depth.  Such pictures are lovely to look at but do not question or challenge, and thus are unable to sustain a lasting dialog with a viewer.



It is the work of artists such as Tom Chambers that delves deeper.  While his photo-montages are beautiful and lush at first glance, an examination of the iconography contained therein leads the viewer to a world of convolution, mystery, and tension.  I appreciate Chambers' approach to the photograph as a composition to be created, rather than as a photograph to be taken, compositions which, while unified by an ever-present luminosity, are ever so unsettling.  The content of his work is shrouded in fantasy, and the figures that inhabit his tableaux make their slow way through through eerie landscapes.  Chambers' pictures are obscure and draw upon obscure sources, his investigation of myth ultimately spawning questions rather than answers.

All images via Tom Chambers' website