Thomas Carroll

Artist Statement

I am an experimental photographer. The aesthetics of my work are influenced by filmmaking at SUNY Binghamton, NY. I studied avant-garde cinema under Ken Jacobs, Larry Gottheim, Peter Kubelka, Nicolas Ray, Jonas Mekas, Hollis Frampton, Stan Brakhage and other visiting filmmakers and artists. They taught the Art of Seeing. I developed an appreciation for the flow of shapes in space and time.

I want to create images from my imagination. My process is the art of seeing. Through the camera lens I visualize the energy...the light, the motion, the poetry. The fusing of photographs essentially transcends the original and becomes a revelation of being.

The kinetic energy I see in the play of light interacting with a surface brings the subject to life. I often collect and overlay photographs in my camera, essentially a multiple exposure or collage. The fusion of images reveals something that is unique.

The joy of overlaying photographs is the discovery of a deeper meaning, a sensuality or relationship that did not exist before. To reveal the vibrations of a moment, the ghosts of our time, our past or perhaps our future is what I desire to show. My work incorporates elements of mystery, magic, truth, allegory and beauty. My style tends to be eclectic, existential, and whimsical. I respond to my photographic subjects with an openness and playfulness to explore the moment. I use the features of the camera and Adobe Lightroom to stretch the boundaries of photography to reveal the unseen...beyond the visible. I do not use AI.

I began by double exposing 35mm film in 1979. I would rewind the film in the camera and shoot again. It was often hit or miss. In 2015 I started using a Nikon digital camera with an overlay feature. This and other digital variables expand the experimental possibilities of photography. I use Adobe Lightroom to attain the clarity, structure and color that I want for the final image.

I am influenced by many artist, styles and schools of art. I am especially inspired by Man Ray's vision of experimental photography as well as the artistic freedom he derived from his friendship with Marcel DuChamp and his association with the artists of Dada, Surrealism and to some extent Abstract Expressionism. Other important influences are Fernand Leger, Antoni Gaudi, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Marc Chagall, Louise Bourgeois; choreographers George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, as well as film directors including Federico Fellini, Georges Melies, Eric von Stroheim, Busby Berkeley, Luis Bunuel, Salvador Dali and many others..