Artist Review: Luke Garrison

Contemporary artist Luke Garrison's photomontage blends different parts together to create a series of pictures that tells a story of love and affliction. People in his works are always placed in the corner, or are off kilter to one side of the work. This creates a feeling of distance and uncertainty. The juxtaposition and layering of photos, images, and symbols create an elusive mood--the Alsatian Girl is waiting for a lover that never comes, the girl with a halo looking at a cracked window, is bent forward. And the shadows overpower the woman in white in the Alsatian Girl.

These stories seem open-ended; all the images are superimposed to create a mysterious photomontage collection.

What is missing is the answer to a question. In "Street Car," Garrison paints a picture of a person suffering from a mental illness. There are visible cracks in the windows in the buildings on the street, and the sign reads: suffering from a mental illness. The lines and borders are blurred, creating a hazy, drug-like effect. Amidst all the patches of images, there is a hint of spirituality. A halo surrounding a woman's head is a reminder of the hope, of the good person that lies beneath the mask of mental illness.

Luke Garrison's work shows promise and talent. Garrison hopes his pictures will elicit feelings of love and yet convey suffering. "Each work is a visual experiment" Garrison says, "art that taps into my creativity." As Garrison [points out, photo montage takes a long time to gather all the bits of different compositions together, but he enjoys working in collage, borrowing elements and images from other sources, albeit sometimes from famous works. A big influence in his work and an artist he admires is Mark Chagall. He uses Chagall's images in his "The Lovers" photomontage. This piece tells a simple love story, and letters are being sent back and forth as depicted at the bottom. The lights above their head dance like neon lights, and are superimposed onto a French advertisement, showing love lasting across distances and countries.

Each one of Garrison's works has a distinctive European flavor, as each card uses a foreign language or French and Italian symbols are superimposed in the background. Luke has spent some time in France perfecting his craft, and traveling in Europe to see famous works of art. The Mary and baby Jesus photo was captured from a shrine in Italy, and is reminiscent of the Renaissance. The texture is very old and wrinkled; it looks like a Fresco painting.

When asked what Luke enjoys most about the contemporary digital medium, he says that since digital mediums sometimes have a disconnect from the human touch, he hopes to keep the human touch alive in his work by touching up photos by hand. We must give a hand to Luke for his efforts. The art succeeds in capturing the eye and igniting the imagination.

What's more, all of Luke's work could easily be turned into posters and pictures for the cover of greeting cards. Perhaps in the near future, we can see him selling some of his photos. Until then, arrivederci!

Works by Luke Garrison

Comments