Real World in Color

What is real? What is an illusion? Can the illusion speak more powerfully than the “real”? The digital revolution in the arts has provided wonderful tools to create surrealistic imagery. I no longer just take images but rather, make images. I may shoot objects with a final image in mind, or just collect them for my “library” that I draw from when an idea comes to me. Color helps conjure emotions and excites the senses. These images may use one predominant color or a complimentary palette.

Imaginary Worlds in Color

Real World in Black & White

As a child, I remember being fascinated by the vision of motion. Sitting in the back seat of the car, head against the window, my eyes focused on a single, ever changing spot racing past, transfixed me. It was an abstract, flowing vision that had wonderful linear patterns and colors and created a mesmerizing effect.

“Flow” is a series of images that recaptures the sense of hypnotic motion I viewed as a kid in the back seat of the car. A sense that you know what you are seeing, yet you don’t. A sense of familiarity and strangeness all in the same gaze. A world of color and motion... all while my perceived state was motionless.


Flow - Photographic Color in Motion

I was born and raised in Florida... a land of big skies and lots of water. I’ve always been fascinated by one of the greatest visual paradoxes that exists. How is the edge of a planetary sphere presented and perceived as a straight line? The horizon has always been a source of wonder and mystery for me. 
It is a defining feature of our existence on this ball of air, water, rock, and life.

These images are created from my imagination… only the horizon is real. I create images of air and I create images of water. But, not at the same time. I choose my water, then I choose my air. I place them together and then choose the placement of the horizon. 

Air & Water

What is real? What is an illusion? Can the illusion speak more powerfully than the “real”? The digital revolution in the arts has provided wonderful tools to create surrealistic imagery. I no longer just take images but rather, make images. I may shoot objects with a final image in mind, or just collect them for my “library” that I draw from when an idea comes to me. Some images speak their message better in Black and White where line and form become dominant… where the emotional impact of color is absent and urges the viewer to provide their own.

Marc Ward