> Please introduce yourself, in your own words. What are your interests?
Hi. My name is Steve Jones, and I live on a small island off the south coast of England. I love sport, music, and sunshine. I also like the feeling you get when life throws you a sense of realisation and creative emotion. I enjoy living by the sea.


> Where did you begin with artistic endeavours? How did you come across Abstraction or Surrealism?
I stumbled upon collage art a few years ago, having previously had no practical art experience, other than the occasional bout of creative writing through prose and poetry. I don't really consider my work to be in any artistic bracket, other than being a type of collage that other people are free to categorise.


> How would you explain the concept of Abstraction or Surrealism to someone with no experience with the genre?
I would not be able to describe the differences between, or the concepts of, Surrealism and Abstractionism other than they have a different 'label' but they are both valid examples of fine art styles drawn from creative states.


> What inspires you to use Abstraction or Surrealism in your work?
I am fuelled by emotion and the every-day workings of Being. these are both my tools and my inspiration.


> What do you want to express with your artwork? What is the idea you're trying to put across?
I try to put across a sense of 'mood' and 'feeling' in my collages; there is never really any explicit message that I am trying to translate to an observer through my work, just the hint of a feeling or an emotion.


> What are your 'tools of the trade'? How do you create your art?
Tools for me are the every-day interactions between people. I love the sense of community and I try to use that to fuel my creativity. It's a little bit like you are recycling what you see and find around you, and re-presenting it to your surroundings in a new form.


> Do you think the quality of a piece depends more upon technical perfection, or the message contained therein?
The quality of any art is in its ability to impact upon the observer... there are no other factors that come into consideration, for me.


> Who are your favourite visual artists, and why?
I like Rene Magritte, mainly for the way he creates light in his works.


> Which dA Groups would you recommend to someone looking to get involved with abstract and surreal art?
I would recommend groups that best suit your own style: there are thousands to choose from; have a look, there is really a group for every style of art here on deviantART.

> Please introduce yourself, in your own words. What are your interests?
Hi, I'm Jess! I'm twenty-three and I'm on deviantART mostly for fractal art. I also like to write and I am fascinated by linguistics: I read too many fantasy novels and web-comics. If you ever want to talk to me there's a good chance I'm lurking in Aposhack.


> Where did you begin with artistic endeavours? How did you come across Abstraction or Surrealism?
I've been drawing since I could hold a marker. I actually remember the first time I head the word 'abstract', too: I was really young - definitely single digits - and painting with watercolours, when I got the idea to do just produce a design with no objects. When I showed it to my dad, he called it abstract.


> How would you explain the concept of Abstraction or Surrealism to someone with no experience with the genre?
I would say that abstract art focuses on raw form and colour rather than on depicting objects and portraying realism. Even when there are some recognisable objects, they are usually obscured, altered or made delightfully weird in some way.


> What inspires you to use Abstraction or Surrealism in your work?
I really love the exploratory aspect. With fractals specifically, it seems like there's this huge possibility-space of things you could do that nobody has ever done before. Maybe the necessary software hasn't even been developed yet! It makes me feel like I'm wandering around on an as-yet uncharted part of the aesthetic map.


> What do you want to express with your artwork? What is the idea you're trying to put across?
Maximalism. I love bright colours - without getting psychedelic - and depicting lots of fine detail. Theoretically infinite detail, in fact; this is fractal art, after all. You could say I want my art to make people feel small in this world. Beyond that, the mood and inspiration varies a lot from piece to piece, although perceptive viewers might pick up some recurring themes.


> What are your 'tools of the trade'? How do you create your art?
Primarily I make use of Ultra Fractal, Apophysis, and Chaotica, which are all designated fractal programs.


> Do you think the quality of a piece depends more upon technical perfection, or the message contained therein?
The latter, but I also think that 'message' is too concrete a word. I once argued that if poetry were only about communicating, poets would be journalists instead, and I think the same sentiment applies to visual art. Sometimes the reason we make art is to express things we can't quite put in words. Another thing is that 'technical' might mean different things in different media. When I think of an overly-technical fractal, I think of one where the person has focused on the mathematical concept and advanced software features, but not given much thought to aesthetic things like composition or colour. So, I guess I would say that in addition to making the viewer think or feel something, a really high-quality work should be aesthetically interesting (not necessarily pleasing!) but that I don't really consider that to be a matter of technique.


> Who are your favourite visual artists, and why?
Well, I'm not super-knowledgeable about either art history or the 'contemporary art scene' (whatever that is), so this answer will mostly be a bunch of fractal artists. That said, I really enjoy the paintings of James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Caspar David Friedrich, and Claude Monet. `rougeux was the deviant who first inspired me to try fractal art, and his pieces remain some of my classic favourites. I also love the work of ~Beesknees67, ~IDeviant, ~s31415, and ~infinite-art. Fractal art is a fairly collaborative medium, especially on a social site like deviantART. I've had a lot of highly productive art sessions with ~esintu, `Platinus, =ChaosFissure, and ~OutsideFate. They are all wonderful artists and hugely influential to me.


> Which dA Groups would you recommend to someone looking to get involved with abstract and surreal art?
Honestly, I don't use the groups feature all that much, and most of the ones I do know are fractal specific (and often software specific). However, #non-real is pretty great.

  


Thank-you `FarDareisMai.

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> Please introduce yourself, in your own words. What are your interests?
I'm a 37 year old New Zealander, born and raised in apartheid South Africa; not something I am particularly proud of. I work part-time as a real estate photographer, which I mostly enjoy, even though it is a purely technical exercise. In my spare time, I like to get creative behind the camera, just wandering around wherever I might be and opening my eyes to opportunities that present themselves. Apart from that, I like to be adventurous and enjoy hiking, camping and going on epic road trips!


> Where did you begin with artistic endeavours? How did you come across Abstraction or Surrealism?
I studied biotechnology at university but had trouble keeping a job down for long, mainly because I didn't handle stress very well in that time of my life. I have a very analytical mind that gets overwhelmed and exhausted at times and this has largely been the catalyst for pursuing creativity and art, in an attempt to find some balance. It engages a different part of the brain and takes one away from thinking too much! I was pretty-much ridiculed for my artistic skill at school, which was not entirely unjustified. I just thought that art was one big waste of time and I couldn't identify with it on any level. We are all creative people, we all have it inside of us I believe, it just has to be unlocked and given voice to. For me, it was as simple as getting an instructional book out of the library that teaches its readers how to draw pencil sketches: I was 21 years old at the time. It opened up a door for me to see the world in a radically different way; in terms of shadows, lines and texture, rather than preconceived ideas brought on by conditioning, past experience and the human habit of attaching labels or names to objects. From there, I bought my first camera and I was immediately captivated by the fusion of science and art and so my love affair with photography was born. Abstract and surreal forms of expression came more naturally to me over the years as my eyes started seeing more beyond the veil of preconceived reality.


> How would you explain the concept of Abstraction or Surrealism to someone with no experience with the genre?
Speaking from a photographic perspective, all photographs are by their very nature abstract. Even the human eye sees in abstract terms. We only sense a tiny fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum, namely that of visible light, or in my case a fraction of visible light, as I am partially colour blind! If we could truly perceive all frequencies of wave energy entering our eyes, reality would be a totally different experience. Apart from that, the human brain filters out a lot of what we actually see as insignificant so we don't really take notice of the totality of what is around us in any case. Our lives are abstract lives, we only sense a tiny fraction of the whole and we only experience a tiny fraction of what we sense. Likewise, any photograph is a gross abstraction of reality, in the sense that it only reproduces a mere slice of ultimate reality, an infinitesimally small portion of the universe; if indeed there is such a thing as objective reality. Abstract photography just takes that a small step further, by capturing an even smaller slice, to the point where the image might no longer be recognisable as an object as such. In a way - and quite ironically, I might add - the term 'abstract' is just another label we attach to a genre of art, which is something the abstract artist is often trying to get away from, i.e. the notion of labels and names and boxes we like to use to categorise 'things' and experience.


> What inspires you to use Abstraction or Surrealism in your work?
It just sort-of happens. I don't always know the reasons behind it, but I do seem to be drawn to it more and more at this time in my life. When I first started on my photographic journey, I focussed mostly upon landscape photography: the so-called chocolate box and calendar images - and there is nothing wrong with that, we need to be made aware of the beauty all around us. But it wasn't particularly satisfying in an artistic sense and it was incredibly hard work lugging a bunch of photographic equipment on my back for days on end on my hiking expeditions. By adopting a more abstract approach, one is able to make photographs absolutely everywhere, whether it be in your back yard or on the crest of a dune in the Namib Desert. There is beauty and intrigue in literally everything, in decay, neglect, despair and even death itself. All the images in my gallery to date were made over the course of the last 6 months; I have not uploaded any of my older work as yet and don't really feel compelled to do so. I have been going through quite a creative spurt, in part inspired by all the great work here on deviantART, and it has drawn me more into exploring abstraction and surrealism as a form of personal expression.


> What do you want to express with your artwork? What is the idea you're trying to put across?
The wonderful thing about abstract and surreal photography is that the viewer will add their own interpretation to the work, based on their past experience and neurobiological make-up. That holds true for other genres of photography as well but is especially true for abstraction and surrealism. No two people will perceive the work in the same way, so the work you created with your mind and vision is then interpreted in possibly a totally different way by the viewer and distilled into a feeling, emotion, thought or dream. It is almost as if the work is being created twice, once by the photographer and once again by the viewer. In this way, there is a meaningful interaction between the two parties, something I find valuable. So there is no real message I am trying to convey: the message is the one the observer arrives at.


> What are your 'tools of the trade'? How do you create your art?
I only started shooting digital in 2008: prior to that it was mostly 35mm transparency film. I now mainly use a Canon 5D Mk II, but still occasionally get out my 5D original as it has more of that film 'look' about it. My workhorse lens is the Canon 24-105mm f4 L IS but I have three other Canon lenses as well. Then there is my trusty but ageing Manfrotto tripod that will need replacing soon, as the sea water and sand has taken its toll. I shoot in RAW and process with Lightroom 4, mostly opting for subtle and gentle adjustments. I don't spend much time processing my images, I prefer to create with the camera as much as possible.


> Do you think the quality of a piece depends more upon technical perfection, or the message contained therein?
It depends on how one defines quality. I think the message or idea should be the primary focus but the message can be diluted if poor technique was used. In other words, you are better able to convey your intention by using 'proper' technique. Sometimes one can stumble upon something remarkable by not being conscious of technique and that is great, so it is not a hard and fast rule, but I admire a well composed and executed photograph that resonates with me on an artistic level as well.


> Who are your favourite visual artists, and why?
Among the masters of photography, I have great admiration for the likes of Minor White and Edward Weston whose abstracts or 'equivalents', as they were often referred to, helped push photography form a purely clinical documentation of reality to something more intangible, in essence using photography as a tool for creating art. The Canadian photographer Freeman Patterson had a big influence on me when I first started on my journey. His 1979 book Photography and the Art of Seeing which I first read in 2002, really helped me to break out of the box of conditioned visual perception and to really see in abstract terms for the first time. The more abstract, and perhaps less well known, works of New Zealand nature photographer Craig Potton served to inspire me to look past the obvious beauty of the country's landscapes to focus more on the intricate details and tighter compositions contained within. Here on deviantART I'm a big fan of the of, in alphabetical order: ^arctoa for his poetic and imaginative works; *ChristineKalliri for her soulful depth and intensity, `DpressedSoul for his expressive works, *Einsilbig for his simple yet strong abstracts, *eintoern for his prolific and perceiving eye, and ~Hengki24 for his epic nature abstracts. There are many more of course, so please don't feel offended if I have left you out; these are just off the top of my head!


> Which dA Groups would you recommend to someone looking to get involved with abstract and surreal art?

  
  
  


Thank-you ~dynax700si.

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> Please introduce yourself, in your own words. What are your interests?
My name is Dimitris and I hail from Hellas. In my childhood memories and throughout my 38 years on this earth I've messed around with the arts: it was a natural instict, a way to express nearly everything. I focused on my greatest love, music: I was a DJ for many years and I compose my own music. Later, I finally found the time to deal with photography and to express my feelings through a camera, an overlay/texture (or many...) in any way I can, and with any means at hand. Other than these two interests, I must say I am a quiet guy: I had my share of the wild life through my time as a DJ but now I enjoy a good book, good music, a good television series or movie, a ride in the car, a walk in the woods or by the sea, and most of all my lady's embrace.


> Where did you begin with artistic endeavours? How did you come across Abstraction or Surrealism?
I've always taken pictures but never with the 'eye' that I have now. I started messing around with effects and stuff like that a couple of years ago, but even as a teenager I was always drawn towards the surreal: I think that even though I do not quite like genre-labelling I know that Dave McKean, the illustrator of Paradise Lost's Shades Of God album and As I Die EP, and comic artist for DC's Vertigo sub-label and Neil Gaiman's books, was the one who first captured my attention.


> How would you explain the concept of Abstraction or Surrealism to someone with no experience with the genre?
As I said above I am not fond of categorising our imagination, especially in the Abstract and Surreal forms but if I had to explain I would say that in Abstraction and Surrealism, art escapes beyond logic boundaries. Just that.


> What inspires you to use Abstraction or Surrealism in your work?
I rarely find any interest in an plain image, so with these forms, my imagination has no limit: I get inspired by the freedom that Abstraction and Surrealism provides. At some points the musical background when I am creating is the greatest inspiration of all.


> What do you want to express with your artwork? What is the idea you're trying to put across?
We are living in dark grey times: through unemployment, the downfall of economies, failing ecosystems, and the increasing difficulty of human relationships. I did not imagine that in my nearly 40's I  would be so pessimistic about my life. So with my images I am either trying to express these feelings, or attempting to keep the romantic in me alive.


> What are your 'tools of the trade'? How do you create your art?
I create with any means available. I have used images from cell phone cameras, my humble Cybershot, and now my Nikon D3000. I mainly use Photoshop CS6 for the effects. Overlays and Textures are vital for the atmospheres that I want to create, and at this point I should thank all of these wonderful people that share with us their lovely works and resources!


> Do you think the quality of a piece depends more upon technical perfection, or the message contained therein?
I am an amateur myself and I really admire an image when it is not accomplished due to technical perfection only. I do not like perfection, because I am not used to it.


> Who are your favourite visual artists, and why?
Firstly, Gustav Klimt, the only person that makes me dream and even smile with use of colours! Secondly, Dave McKean. There is no why. I just adore his works.


> Which dA Groups would you recommend to someone looking to get involved with abstract and surreal art?

Thank-you *Azenoire.

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> Please introduce yourself, in your own words. What are your interests?
I am a fifty-something photographer and graphic designer living in Southern California. I have been taking and making photographs since the days when it made your fingers smell (ah... fixer). At first I lamented the departure of film, but the digital medium certainly has its advantages. While I do some computer processing of most of my images, I try to limit it to things that I could have done in the darkroom. It is important to me that the pictures are not overly synthetic. Ultimately, I am most inspired by the phenomenon of nature that we call 'light', by its human offspring vision and perception, and by the amazing things that happen when the three come together. I also love a nice picture of a cute kitten now and then.


> Where did you begin with artistic endeavours? How did you come across Abstraction or Surrealism?
I've been producing art since elementary school, but it wasn't until high school that I began to think of art as a possible profession. Not all of my work is abstract, but I guess the abstract images come from my years of doing commercial graphic design. The abstract photos are simply design in its purest form. Ones in which the design has to satisfy only one 'client', myself.


> How would you explain the concept of Abstraction or Surrealism to someone with no experience with the genre?
For me, the critical aspect of abstract art is that the visual totality of the image, the visual presentation, must be the most important thing about the image; why the image exists. I say that in relation mostly to a lot of abstract photos, as opposed to the typical abstract painting or drawing. For instance, in many abstract photos you can tell it is part of a building or other architecture, or a closely cropped section of a flower or plant, or that it is peeling paint on a wall. And that's OK, as long as the composition, shapes, colors and textural elements in the image are more important to the success of the piece than the fact that its source is a man-made or natural object. In regard to my own images, some are more recognizable as paper than others are, but in the more abstract examples the 'paperiness' is not what the image is about, it only (hopefully) supports and enhances the overall composition.


> What inspires you to use Abstraction or Surrealism in your work?
My Paper Series of images runs the gamut from figurative, conceptual, still life, to pure abstracts. I guess I'm inspired to produce abstracts when I do not want to 'think' too much, but just want to create on the fly: to just take some interesting sheets of paper and see happens.


> What do you want to express with your artwork? What is the idea you're trying to put across?
With the abstracts, the 'idea' usually comes last. Usually about three-quarters of the way through creating a piece the colours and shapes will inspire a title, and that title will sort-of cement in my mind a final look and feel that I can work towards to finish the piece.


> What are your 'tools of the trade'? How do you create your art?
Paper, scissors, x-acto knife, paper shredder. Light... and shadow.


> Do you think the quality of a piece depends more upon technical perfection, or the message contained therein?
I guess I'm much bigger on technique than message. I enjoy and appreciate many images that have no message at all, but I rarely admire images with poor technique.


> Who are your favourite visual artists, and why?
Grant Wood, for his design and patterning n his landscape work; Takashi Murakami, for his... well, for everything; Tim Hawkinsoon, for his wildly creative stuff across a range of subject and media, but especially for the creepy stuff; and Jan Van Eyck, obviously he was a Master: what's not to like?


> Which dA Groups would you recommend to someone looking to get involved with abstract and surreal art?
I don't have a particular recommendation. There are many, many groups out there, and I don't have any criteria to rate one over another.

Thank-you *kparks.

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> Please introduce yourself, in your own words. What are your interests?
Hello, I'm Chris; only my mother calls me "Christian" and when she does I know I'm in trouble. I'm 53 years young and I live in the middle of the UK.  I love photography and music; far too much music, I may add.


> Where did you begin with artistic endeavours? How did you come across Abstraction or Surrealism?
I've always been interested in art from a very early age, mainly because my dad was an abstract painter. I'd be the only kid in the street with oil paint on his clothes while the other kids only had mud on theirs.


> How would you explain the concept of Abstraction or Surrealism to someone with no experience with the genre?
Good question. Well, Surrealism twists reality to convey the dreams of our subconscious mind, whereas abstraction expresses something that differs from reality but isn’t always representational of what it captures, because abstraction is emotion and energy. However, I fear it could also be said that abstract art can be seen as surrealistic as well, because the randomness might portray some subconscious ideas at the time of painting just to confuse you...


> What inspires you to use Abstraction or Surrealism in your work?
I see various shadows of abstraction where-ever I go. I never really thought about it before, but it moves me when I see a splatter of paint on a wall or different shades of plaster: it evokes feelings inside me and I want to show people that there’s nothing wrong with expressing feelings through abstraction.


> What do you want to express with your artwork? What is the idea you're trying to put across?
I want to express emotions: be they good or bad, light or dark, I want people to open their eyes and just see what's around them; what they miss when they don’t stop and look at their surroundings.


> What are your 'tools of the trade'? How do you create your art?
I have a wonderful Nikon D90 / 18-200mm F3.5-5.6G / 60Mm F2.8D Af Micro / 10.5mm F2.8G AF DX IF-ED Fisheye / 50mm F/1.8D.  I capture what I see, be it in close-up detail or in wide-angle. I use Photoshop CS5 to straighten up my images because I'm useless at holding the camera straight, and sometimes I adjust the contrasts when needed and, if shooting RAW or infrared, then I use it to fine-tune everything. A friend once said to me "why don’t you use Photoshop?", and I argued that it distorts what I capture - to which he laughed and said "Photoshop is your darkroom, so use it like you used to use the darkroom and bring your pictures to life once again!"


> Do you think the quality of a piece depends more upon technical perfection, or the message contained therein?
The message: what’s technically perfect doesn't always have emotions within it.


> Who are your favourite visual artists, and why?
Oh, this is such a hard question! Each and every one of the people I watch here on deviantART would come under that: I love their work, it's all so different and it all carries wonderful emotions and messages. The list would be a huge one if I were to name them one by one, so I hope they forgive me if I don't. Elsewhere, I love Don McCullin's work so much - he has such an affinity for the subjects he captures, be they the darkest of dark images you'll ever have seen, or the most wonderful imagery the world has to offer. I advise anyone to watch his DVD and not be moved by it.


> Which dA Groups would you recommend to someone looking to get involved with abstract and surreal art?
I was once in a group, but I don’t follow or have any involvement in any groups any more.

Thank-you *chriseastmids.

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> Please introduce yourself, in your own words. What are your interests?
Hi there, my name is Neda Vent Fischer, and I was born in 1974 in Yugoslavia. I'm currently living between Paris and Belgrade. My interests, hmm. I have way too many. How much time do you have? Let’s say I am interested in art en général. Creativity. Curiosity. Life.


> Where did you begin with artistic endeavours? How did you come across Abstraction or Surrealism?
Originally I wanted to be a dramaturge, so I went to study at the Academy for Film & Theatre in Belgrade. It didn't take long before a good friend of mine asked me to capture his process of film making. So, naturally, I picked up the camera and discovered that not only did I enjoy it more, it was less stressful for me to tell the stories and express myself that way. I had to pass another few hundred years before I finally discovered that Surrealism is the genre where I feel at home. I am very melancholic person; by saying that, I mean I am an introvert and that I am imaginative. I rarely run out of ideas. In fact, I always have so many in my head.


> How would you explain the concept of Abstraction or Surrealism to someone with no experience with the genre?
I have two answers for one question. Cheeky version: I am guessing I would start by asking: Ever heard of Google?  Good, when you get home, open your browser (assuming you already have your computer turned on) and in the Search box type Surrealism and then hit the Enter button! Polite version: Surrealism is art movement dedicated to expressing the imagination as revealed in dreams, free of the conscious control or reason and convention. It's a type of art where artists create dream-like or nightmarish art with objects that have been oddly changed in ways you couldn't see in reality.


> What inspires you to use Abstraction or Surrealism in your work?
My subconscious. My desires. Everyday life.


> What do you want to express with your artwork? What is the idea you're trying to put across?
Again; I am trying to express my desires, my subconsciousness; dystopia; melancholy. The darkness that surrounds me.


> What are your 'tools of the trade'? How do you create your art?
I used to take photos with my Leica R3 35mm camera, but film development became far too expensive. So nowadays, I take photos with my Nikon DSLR cameras. To get the desired effect I use motion blur, meaning I have to move around while taking photos. And by move I mean, move a lot, from left to right, and then up and down. Sometimes that means that I’ll snap approx 150 photos of the same composition before I manage to capture the right one. Sometimes, if I don’t have time to go through with all that, I do a little cheating by processing the same effect in Photoshop.


> Do you think the quality of a piece depends more upon technical perfection, or the message contained therein?
Frankly, I would say that one supplements the other. But then, I think that the message contained is far more important than the technical perfection itself.


> Who are your favourite visual artists, and why?
George Brassaï is my favourite, because he was a true master of light, shadow and atmosphere.


> Which dA Groups would you recommend to someone looking to get involved with abstract and surreal art?

Thank-you =NVENTFISCHER.

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> Please introduce yourself, in your own words. What are your interests?
My name is Daragh. I was born in Dublin, Ireland. I have been living for 27 years in Spain and currently reside in the south-west of Spain, in the border town of Badajoz. My interests include Art, Music, and Sports.


> Where did you begin with artistic endeavours? How did you come across Abstraction or Surrealism?
I studied Fine Art & Design in Dublin and worked for a number of years as an Interior Design Consultant before taking a career change and moving to Spain. I have always been interested in Abstract Art and Surrealism from a very early age, as my father used to take me around the Art galleries in Dublin.


> How would you explain the concept of Abstraction or Surrealism to someone with no experience with the genre?
Surrealism depicts actual things drawn pretty realistically, but that don't make sense together or in a scene that wouldn't happen in real life. Even if the object depicted doesn't make sense, it's still clearly depicted. For example, there could be a painting of a room in which an apple takes up half of it. In Abstraction, even though it conveys emotions or sometimes resembles things, abstracts usually don't depict a scene and is sometimes just shape and colour that when combined make the observer feel a certain way. For example, a lot of blue and green wavy lines and circles would make an appreciator feel calm. Both art forms primarily evoke thoughts and/or feelings.


> What inspires you to use Abstraction or Surrealism in your work?
Periodically I do some figurative/traditional Artwork; nevertheless, I find by creating Abstract or Surrealist pieces it allows me to go beyond the obvious and delve down deep into myself and find a little bit of comfort.


> What do you want to express with your artwork? What is the idea you're trying to put across?
I want to express feelings; dreamlike scenes and moods, and a piece of my inner self.


> What are your 'tools of the trade'? How do you create your art?
I use a pretty simple but very functional Canon 450D with a variety of lenses. I also use Photoshop CS4 together with my own textures and brushes, and a Wacom Tablet.


> Do you think the quality of a piece depends more upon technical perfection, or the message contained therein?
I think it’s pretty difficult to convey anything if you don’t have the basic technical skills. However an artist may have an incredible technical knowledge but lack the ability to transmit their ideas. So it’s a bit of both, really.


> Who are your favourite visual artists, and why?
Well, needless to say I like and draw from all of the classics - additionally, particularly over the last few years, I have been inspired by many of my deviantART friends. I’m pretty selective about faving things so you can see a good selection of their Artwork in my Favourites gallery.


> Which dA Groups would you recommend to someone looking to get involved with abstract and surreal art?

Thank-you *ParallelDeviant.

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> Please introduce yourself, in your own words. What are your interests?
I'm an independent French photographer, based in Brittany, and for a few years I have gathered photos along my travels and through my intuitions. I focus my work on geometric and abstract composition. I am a part of several artistic groups, most notably the Collectif 18-55, with whom I work in order to create and publish general purpose photography. Additionally, I also work on short films. Today I initiate a new association that will focus on artistic projects.


> Where did you begin with artistic endeavours? How did you come across Abstraction or Surrealism?
I started in photography by taking street and territory photos. Then, as time passed, I tended to focus more and more into a part of a particular scene: as I may say, to 'zoom-in' to details. That's where I realised that there are a lot of interesting geometric features around that people usually do not see or at least do not consider to be visually appealing.


> How would you explain the concept of Abstraction or Surrealism to someone with no experience with the genre?
In my point of view, abstraction is a way to express a vision or feelings through explicit media. It is an attempt to focus on the essence of your own surrounding world and to extract only what is necessary. Deconstructing the primary sense of the image; that's my minimalist vision.


> What inspires you to use Abstraction or Surrealism in your work?
Please see my answers to where I began with photography and how I express my artwork to get an idea about what inspires me to use abstraction in my photography.


> What do you want to express with your artwork? What is the idea you're trying to put across?
Today I try to extract details, patterns and aesthetic shapes from architecture or objects in order to find a way (through crop, orientation, or post processing) to exhibit the essence of them. In some cases, I find myself attracted not by the details but by a juxtaposition of objects or plans. In those cases, I have a more surrealist approach and I'm bound to play with the space surrounding me in order to try to create illusional effects, some kind of 'trompe-l'oeil'. I love when people question themselves by looking at the picture:with thoughts of "whats is that? isn't it upside down?". I gladly answer these questions so that eventually the way people at their environments will change so that they themselves start to search for oddities and appealing geometric features.


> What are your 'tools of the trade'? How do you create your art?
For my Rêves d'urbanisme series, I mostly use a Canon 5D or 7D with a long focal lens (mostly 105mm). I'm bound to buy a longer focal in order to reduce the visual perspective when, in some cases, I'm searching for a 'flat' image. I also have a medium format Yashica Mat 124G which I use for wider angle and  to capture different aesthetic, mostly for portraiture, urban and street photography. I see myself as a 'square-eyed' person. When I look at a scene, I can't focus on what's happening outside of that central squared vision. That's why I mostly don't see what stands outside the frames I use, even though most of my abstract shots were taken with my 24x36 digital camera.


> Do you think the quality of a piece depends more upon technical perfection, or the message contained therein?
My answer would be in between. You definitely have to think about the message or the idea you want to express in your work, even though sometimes you also have to shoot more randomly in order to experience new visions. Beside that, the technicality is also very important as firstly, mastering the techniques will give you more time to think about the message, and secondly the aesthetic and compositional component of your pictures have to match the message and the mood you want to pass through your work.


> Who are your favourite visual artists, and why?
Strangely, in photography, I'm mostly touched by territory, urban photography and journalism. I'm very fond of the 'New Topographers'; Dorothea Lange, and Cedric Delsaux. I'm also quite amazed by the renovated vision of cities that recent (and even sometimes amateur) photographers have, for instance: Patrick Joust, 'Mannequin-', and 'TerrorKitten'. In geometric works I'm inspired by Kandinsky, Escher, Mondrian, and Delaunay; who I think made one of the key works in abstraction with geometry. For recent photographers, I'd advise 'Une-vache', 'Einsilbig', 'crh', and 'Daruma'.


> Which dA Groups would you recommend to someone looking to get involved with abstract and surreal art?

  

  


Thank-you ~LeMatos.

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> Please introduce yourself, in your own words. What are your interests?
Hi: my name is Olivier Jollant, I'm 47 and my nickname is Daaram. I'm a professional photographer living and working near Paris, France. I'm specialised in creative reports and fashion portraits. All of my life is connected with art and the fact to create. I am passionate about photography and all kinds of visual arts of all eras and styles. I love paintings, drawings from Jan Van Eyck or Andy Warhol and from Egon Schiele or Mark Rothko... I'm also mad about movies from the very first of Charlie Chaplin's up to the latest James Bond. Music is also extremely important in my life: I love British Pop Music and New Wave from the 1980s, Indie Rock, Electro and House music. I can't imagine spending one day without listening to my favorite bands. I always create while listening to music. I'm also mad about new technologies, Mac computers and cellphones, always checking for all the new software and applications coming out. For more than 10 years I'm communicate and share all my passions on the web where I'm spend a lot of time being a member on a lot of online communities, networks and several personal websites. I'm French, I love my country and Paris in particular! This town is a never ending source of inspiration for me. French language, culture and all the great artists from our history are very important to me, it's my personal heritage. At the same time I feel to be European and I dream to travel all around the world to meet new people, to discover new countries and languages! I'd love to be able to spend 3 months living in some great foreign cities of my choice. I love fashion and fashion photography is my main activity. I also love video games, such as Diablo 3 or Assassin's Creed, and I admire all the guys creating those characters and universes. I'd love to participate in this kind of collective project as a visual designer.


> Where did you begin with artistic endeavours? How did you come across Abstraction or Surrealism?
Art is something very important in my family: several of my ancestors were very good drawers, painters and/or photographers. When I was a kid I loved to visit the Louvre Museum and see all the exhibitions that my parents would regularly visit. At the beginning I preferred to play football in the streets with my friends but after a while I started to acquire an appreciation for painters and sculptors and my first hero in art was Vincent Van Gogh. I didn't have a great talent to draw, I was always too impatient to see the final result for this style. My parents were both talented photographers: mainly nice family portraits and architecturual compositions. They also had a lot of different cameras at home, from a SX70 Polaroid to Kodak Instamatic 110, old cameras coming from our ancestors but also the latest 24x36 compact camera of those times. I already loved cameras and photography but I didn't dare to really start to take photos without finding a good tool and a good way to start. Then my aunt offered me my very first camera: a Minolta SRT 100X and since then I've never stopped taking photos. I learned a lot through taking street photography and I think that it's the best way to learn to take photos; to capture faces, expressions, movements and to feel the light, to know by heart your camera and the lenses, and all the basic techniques. I've taken thousands of portraits, still life captures, macro and micro photography, landscapes, Fashion photos and a lot more since I was 15.
Here I must say that I'm a lot more interested in Abstraction than Surrealism. Even if I really love Dali's or Magritte's work, concepts and ideas I know perfectly that this is not my way to create and to express myself. I came across abstraction thanks to my aunt (once again) who had been living for years in New York and came back to France with her own collection of abstract paintings. So her apartment's walls were full of strange paintings that my parents didn't like at all, but for myself I was liking them very much: they made me dream and imagine that an old Apache or a Viking created it. Later when I was around 20 and working in an photo lab in Paris I met several colleagues and customers who were very good abstract painters. They have taught me a lot about abstract painting and they helped me to discover great artists as Antoni Tapies, Pierre Soulages, Zao Woo-Ki, Soto, Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman and a lot more. Personally I did a lot of research on 24x36 films with chemical products, engraving, sewing them to finally print them on Cibachrome paper. I was also experimenting a lot doing prints from my own photos in the darkroom I installed in my bedroom. I really started to create abstract art in the 1990s, painting on the glass windows of slides' frames (miniature paintings in 24x36mm). Often I was taking photos of those small transparent paintings with a microscope, it was fascinating. All this was before the times of Personal Computers, Photoshop, digital cameras and the Internet. Then all my ways to create and to show my works changed, in a positive way.


> How would you explain the concept of Abstraction or Surrealism to someone with no experience with the genre?
It's hard to explain this in English but for me, abstract art is a way to create without the need to represent something or somebody in particular: the spectator will have to imagine and to decide what the piece of art is representing for themselves. Everyone will have a different experience in front of each piece depending on their life, sex, culture, personality and sensibility. Each person is unique and different and will see, understand and feel a line, a colour, a light, and contrasts in a different way. That's an extremely rich subject! Even if I'm creating not only abstract photography it's obvious that this way to create is essential for me: a way to breathe! A poetic way to explain the concept of abstract art could be to say: It's a way to create from about your purest dreams and also your most terrible nightmares; a way of making them the main actors and models of your works. As an abstract photographer I dream to be able one day to take photos of my dreams but also a clear photo of a ghost.


> What inspires you to use Abstraction or Surrealism in your work?
First of all I want to say that a lot of people don't understand abstract art, thinking that they're not clever enough or not having a perceived culture to understand it and that's really a pity. I've been working in an art gallery for a while so I know what I'm talking about. Teachers and parents should teach their kids about abstract art in a very simple and natural way and it could probably help a lot to its understanding. It could also help a lot if art galleries' directors and artists themselves were a lot less snobbish. Basically people are not understanding why a black comma on a huge white canvas could be sold for one million dollars: I understand them and I know that it can be really shocking. Nowadays if someone says: "I'm a painter" to someone else the other person will automatically ask: "Abstract painter?". I think that this is sad and nowadays illustrators (for example) are very often a lot more creative and original than abstract painters and they don't care if they must be called artists or 'just' creatives. For myself if someone is asking to me: "What's your job?" I love to answer: "I'm an abstract photographer". Generally their faces change completely, from interest to distaste!
To answer more directly: Abstraction isn't a goal in my creation, it is just a natural, quick and obvious way to express my vision and feelings. In my last series about clouds I show pictures I took through the glass windows during flights in planes. The sky is basically an abstract element so if you want to be one with your subject and to create good pictures you must be a bird taking photos, to imagine that you're flying, that you're a cloud... or all this at the same time! What inspires me? To be able to explore the limits of darkness and lightness; the limits of the colors in contrasts; the rhythm of a line: all to create a kind of 'perfect' composition in space; a perfect visual symphony. During post-processing I often flip the pictures upside down and I really enjoy those kind of creative little keys. Then there are no more limits and the fact to create becomes something magical! Working on abstract art is an act that pushes you to know a lot more about yourself: about your own psychology, philosophy, history and faith. To be more pure, honest and true, to go to the essential spirit of things. It could be also the perfect way to discover your dark & bright sides and maybe also to discover something holy and hidden deep in yourself, and that's already a lot!


> What do you want to express with your artwork? What is the idea you're trying to put across?
With my artwork I want to express my vision of light and tone. I spend hours trying to find the 'perfect' composition through framing, density, contrasts, and toning, and when the picture is completely finished I always have this incredible (and hard to explain) feeling that I created something important and unique at this precise moment. Sometimes, though, it just goes directly to a dark part of my hard drive. I see the fact to create as an initiation, something spiritual in a very pagan way. I want to express the fact that the human face and body in its proportions are everywhere in the nature all around us: in the clouds, the branches of the trees or visible on the surface of the moon we can see from Earth. That's beautiful and magical and a great subject to explore for an artist. I often feel like a witness. I believe in spirits, so very often, on the computer screen, I'm discovering some of them hidden in the clouds for example, then the piece becomes a kind of homage and a way to communicate with this spirit. I try to understand their message and why they appeared at that precise moment. I believe that there's something after death so if I'm showing a very dark piece the meaning isn't necessarily death but more representing a dark night before a bright new day. I'm optimistic but rather dark. I think that the dark side of things is a lot more interesting and a greater source of inspiration for me than the happy and bright side! With my abstract works I try to find the purest and most perfect lights, balance and contrasts of colors, framing and composition, the perfect alchemy. Each artwork is building yourself to be a better human being and artist I think... or it's not good work.


> What are your 'tools of the trade'? How do you create your art?
I've always worked with Mac computers and I'm really happy with this choice: I work on an iMac. I'm also a Photoshop addict. I've learned to work on this software through books years before I was able to buy my first computer. The other 'tools of the trade' are my camera: a Canon EOS 400D with two zoom lenses: a 18/55mm and a 55/250mm. I also often work with my cell phones: a Samsung Wave and, more recently, an iPhone 4S that I really enjoy. I love to experiment with photographic applications, to discover new ways to create all the time. On the computer I retouch and create on Photoshop CS6 and Lightroom 4, plus several little applications that allow me to experiment and to find original and interesting ideas. I generally spend several hours on every picture (between 4 hours and several days): sometimes I feel that I'm really sculpting the light, the textures and the colors all together. I like this long alchemy. I create beside my beloved, Marta, who works at the same table on her children's and fashion illustrations. And I drink a lot of coffee!


> Do you think the quality of a piece depends more upon technical perfection, or the message contained therein?
The quality of a piece should depend in an equal way upon technical perfection and a very good concept or idea. In general a lot of abstract artists think that the concept or message is everything and as a result they risk creating boring material. A lot of of modern artists think that Marcel Duchamp is God and that the simple fact to put a random object in an art gallery is transforming it automatically into a piece of art. I'm against this idea and I must say that most of the abstract photos I'm seeing in a lot of galleries and even some here at deviantART are boring for me, while a small percentage are pure gold. Most artists must work extremely hard, every day, for many years to be able to create the best piece they can (or to be a young lucky genius). Then they can try to become a slightly better artist every day thereafter. In general my photos are telling stories to the observer. I loved to write texts and poetry about, and on, my photos but I don't have the time for this any more, and I wouldn't like if this text would 'kill' the image. Now I prefer the spectator to be able to invent their own story upon viewing it. All the story or eventual message is in the titles I give to the pictures. Sometimes I give some conceptual keys in my captions and I always enjoy answering the visitors' comments.


> Who are your favourite visual artists, and why?
As I said before, one of my first sources of inspiration in art was Vincent Van Gogh: I always loved and admired his unique way to paint. I've read a lot of books about him and I have the luck to live near Paris, halfway between the Orsay Museum where you can see several of his best self portraits, and to live not so far away from Auvers sur Oise: the village where this painter lived the last months of his life and died. Van Gogh is like a spiritual brother, an invisible member of my family and it's the same with the French poet Arthur Rimbaud. I also really love Egon Schiele's artworks, his way to draw is amazing and I love all his works, the man, the artist and the short story of his life. It is difficult to speak about all those geniuses in just a few words! My very first inspiration in photography was Henri Cartier-Bresson. I still love his works but I think that they don't influence me any more when I see them: they're already just a part of me, a part of my identity as a visual artist. His way to capture people's attitudes and to compose and frame were very unique. To speak more precisely about abstract painters I love Mark Rothko's works very much! I had the luck to visit an exhibition of his works in a Parisian museum years ago and it was a great experience. His works must be seen in reality. You must be able to spend half an hour on every piece to discover how vibrant, deep and alive the light & the layers of colors are, and to discover the real scale and scope of his work. After that you won't be able to watch his works on small reproductions on the web, printed on postcards or posters anymore. Elsewhere, while he's not officially an abstract painter William Turner's works are amazing: I could spend hours watching the skies and landscapes he painted. I love many visual artists, illustrators, graphic designers and the list could be too long for me to reproduce here! However, I must say that I also love Andy Warhol a lot, his works, the man and the story of his life but also as a photographer. I'm fascinated with what happened in his 'Factory' in New York with guests like The Rolling Stones, Dennis Hopper, Truman Capote, William S. Burroughs... and he's the guy who created the cover of the first album of the great band The Velvet Underground. Among many other painters I love: Francis Bacon, Albretch Dürer, Hieronymus Bosch...


> Which dA Groups would you recommend to someone looking to get involved with abstract and surreal art?

  
  
  


Thank-you =daaram.

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