It used to be a trend in the medium of photography that some practicing artists, dissatisfied with the static, frozen-in-time image would abandon the single-frame format camera for the moving pictures kind; essentially making a trade for the fourth dimension— that of time.
These days it would seem that a trade has been made again, but the trade is not of the either/or variety. It's a trade up for more skill sets. No longer does it seem that one has to identify or confine oneself to one set criteria of artistic representation or media. Photographers can begat filmmakers which can begat performance work which can begat installation ad infinitum. It's as if there is only one artistic medium anymore, and its name is versatility.
Untitled, from the series In the Fulcrum of Our Dreams by Teo Ormond-Skeaping
Today's contender, Teo Ormond-Skeaping is one such practioner, working in photography, video and installation within the same project concept. His current body of work, In the Fulcrum of Our Dreams, reflects the sensibilities of one that likes to traffic in dreams, archetypes and the shadow-sides of reality. Colors are muted yet singularly and selectively intense at the same time; some moments are blurred and softly vignetted on the edges, others feel as if you can almost smell them. By utilizing still images, moving images and installation to evoke a rich emotional palette of experience, what I am most moved by in Fulcrum of Dreams is how many and how acutely each of my senses are engaged.
Untitled, from the series In the Fulcrum of Our Dreams by Teo Ormond-Skeaping
IN THE FULCRUM OF OUR DREAMS from teo ormond-skeaping on Vimeo.
In Ormond-Skeaping's multi-layered canvas the more bewildering aspects of dreamscape are invoked: sensations of symbolic import paired with faces that may have no relevance in daily life but in dream logic summon up powerful archetypal associations, creating wave of skin-prickling wave of weird emotional resonance. Is the figure below a harrowing relation? A stranger in decline? Someone with menacing and supernatural powers? A reflection of super ego?
Untitled, from the series In the Fulcrum of Our Dreams by Teo Ormond-Skeaping
The open-ended, free-association and stream-of-consciousness that runs thickly throughout this work brings to my mind the work of Bill Viola, who works masterfully at themes which combine spirit, rites of passage, Jungian psychology and the uncomfortable, seemingly unending spaces of dream life.
While it may seem initially intimidating to learn the language of a new medium and/or incorporate into an existing practice the threads of an entirely new one (or two or three), artists that are unafraid of the learning curve and forgiving of self-created messes and mistakes are eventually rewarded with a much larger tool chest and language set by which to communicate their visions.
The full photographic sequence, as well as video and installation portions of In the Fulcrum of Our Dreams can be experienced at Teo Ormond-Skeaping's website.