Art Wolfe Part 3: Other Inspirations

Other Inspirations

    

      Art Wolfe has a craving for adventure in his life. He loves hiking and going to places that most people wouldn't go every day. A lot of his inspirations come from the places he goes and the wildlife that he sees there. He likes to go back to those places to get a different type of picture in the same place or location. His example for this was Mt. Rainier, which he has visited 85 times. Also, going places encourages him to visit other places like it, much like a lot of hikers and climbers like to do, except they do it without a camera. He also mentions how he majored in painting AND art history, and how that has influenced him greatly. When he's traveling and looking for landscapes he draws from that knowledge to find something that is meaningful to his audience. 

Art Wolfe Part 2: Influences

Influences

http://www.apertureacademy.com/guest-photographer-art-wolfe.php

     
   Art Wolfe's style of photography was mainly influenced by his love for hiking and climbing, his background in painting, his parents who also worked in photography, and his appreciation for wildlife and cultures. His style is mainly pictures of landscapes, wildlife, nature and different cultures; however, he says he has never stayed in one genre. He liked to hike, so he started taking pictures on his hikes to show people, and eventually he applied what he was learning as a painting major to his photography on is hikes, and he started getting noticed. He says he as always comfortable with getting close to animals and has a strong knowledge of natural history, and he brings all of that to his photography. In addition, his parents were artists, and they did photography, so he was familiar with cameras. That had a strong bearing on his career as well. 

Art Wolfe Part : Analysis

Analysis

     Art Wolfe says that this picture is different from most of his other works of art, but really it is an evolution of his interests. The picture is of a boy covered in clay that is cracking, and it blends in with the background. This picture is part of his Human Canvas Project. Although the pictures might be viewed as erotic because of nudity, he sees them as theatrical. Art Wolfe has traveled to many different cultures over the past 30 years, and he says that these human forms are inescapably sensual in nature, and that nudity is common in many places. This picture, along with the rest of the Human Canvas Project, shows a progression from the work he's done in tribal communities. In those tribal communities, spots, lines, and textures are part of their decorations they use for celebrations. If you look at this picture and the rest of the pictures in the project, you can see that Wolfe depicts this decoration very well in the lines and geometry in the photos. He also works closely with animals. You can see that he made this man looks sort of camouflage which shows how his work with wildlife influenced this shot. He said that in these pictures, he tried to abstract the human form through the use of line, patters, textures, and different angles, and I think he has done that beautifully.

http://www.humancanvasproject.com/about