Living in New York, Spanish artist Isidro Blasco is constantly surrounded by architecture – absorbing his surrounds and reconstructing these captured moments into stunning photographic, sculptural forms. In his latest series, ‘Sydney Interiors’ with Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney, Blasco enters the homes of Sydney creatives, providing a fascinating insight into the lives of some of our most significant artists, musicians, dancers and other personalities.
Your work has been described as ‘Photographic Sculpture’ – how would you describe your artistic practice and output?
I use photography all the time, but I don’t consider myself a photographer, I just use it because it is a great tool. You see, when I take pictures I am just using them to replicate a shape, a volume that interests me. What I really do is make sculptures and reliefs; objects that represent other objects and that tell us how we see the reality around us.
Isidro Blasco, Zero Gravity House, 2013, C-type print, wood, museum board, 50 x 40 x 12cm. Courtesy the artist and Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney
How important is the ‘deconstruction’ and ‘reconstruction’ of subject matter to your overall practice? What does this allow you to do?
In the process of looking at and interpreting what I have seen, I tend to overlap several moments. In a way, I try to cover more ground than what you normally see in one shot. The deconstructing comes naturally when I am taking the pictures, since I need to take many pictures to cover just one room or one street view. So right there, in that street corner, is where I am breaking down the space around me into many small fragments of perception. And it is later, when I am rebuilding that moment in the studio that I try to condense all those small moments of perception into a single moment.
In a practical sense, how do you go about creating a body of work?
I first need to see ‘the place’: to actually be there and feel the space around me. When I get to a new location, I look with my eyes, but also try to perceive other things, especially volume. Anything that comes out of the continuum is important for me; any irregularities on the surfaces, any sharpness on the borders, etc. Afterwards I start taking pictures, in a panorama-like movement. I try not to miss anything, and quite often I change positions within the space in order to capture more of it. This amazing connection with the space, with the volumes surrounding, does not happen every time. But when it happens I am the happiest person in that space. And I tend to go back to that spot again and again.
Isidro Blasco, Tom’s house, 2013, C-type print, wood, museum board, 35 x 35 x 10cm. Courtesy the artist and Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney
You have worked with building facades and cityscapes around the world, including Sydney. This body of work sees you capture interior spaces – how is it different working with interior as opposed to exterior spaces?
I don’t make a distinction between being inside or outside. I am always the centre, from where the perception originates. And I am hoping that other people can relate to the way I see things because we share the same culture. But having said this, there is more detail on the surface of things when you are in an interior of a house; especially in the homes I am visiting here in Sydney. I am surprised how much stuff and treasures people have in their homes.
This series has a distinctly personal element to it with works referring to individuals and their belongings. Can you tell me about this body of work and how you chose the interior spaces?
It was a quite an organic process finding the interiors for this project, mostly by word of mouth, through friends and Dominik Mersch gallery. I was looking for interiors of people that are in some way creative and relevant to the culture of this city. I have people that are very well known like Rob Hirst, or Brett Whiteley, and also artists that are starting their careers. I have found that almost everybody here is very open and laidback, and were very happy to open up their homes and let me take pictures.
Dominik Mersch Gallery
10 August to 7 September 2013
Sydney
