Paul Smedberg

I mix, shred, distill, and compose parts of a number of original photographs into a new whole. I call them photoremixes.

Ostranenie

Russian (n.) encouraging people to see common things as strange, wild, or unfamiliar; defamiliarizing what is known in order to know it differently or more deeply.

Here’s a walk-through of Paul’s studio:

Recent digital photoremixes, created within the last year or so:

Chains of amusement
12″ x 12″ photoremix
unique, mounted

All work shown here are digital photoremixes. I digitally collage my own photos. Each of these is a unique work — no other prints will be made. All are digitally printed, signed, and mounted on sheets of styrene plastic. Contact Paul to purchase or with questions. I would welcome your interest. paul@paulsmedberg.com 812-720-3011

Visit my website: http://paulsmedberg.com/
Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paul.smedberg/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paul.smedberg
There’s a particularly large collection of images and motion graphics on Ello: https://ello.co/paulsmedberg
and lastly my YouTube channel with a collection of quirky/artzy shorts

Wisdom of flowers
photoremix triptych, three 16″ x 20″ panels, unique

Cathedral of Learning
photoremix diptych-ish, two 24″ x 24″ panels, unique
The pieces are to be hung in separate but adjoining rooms.

Honey Jones’ place
24″ x 16″ photoremix, unique, mounted

The edge of wakefulness
8″ x 10″ photoremix, unique, mounted

My goal is to create work that grabs attention and interest at first sight and rewards repeated, thoughtful viewing. When you say to yourself, “What is it?” — That’s when you’re starting to know something new. There are cells in your brain that specialize in dealing with unaccustomed perceptions. I’m trying to light a candle under those cells. I’m rendering the familiar into the unfamiliar. This viewpoint is one in which different aspects of a setting are visible at once, from a perspective that could only be obtained by crumpling, slicing and folding our three-dimensional world. By bringing together multiple images and shapes, I’m creating/revealing extra information about a single setting that results from connections across widely differing directions and scales.

I’m portraying rifts in space, time and point-of-view – looking at a setting from multiple perspectives simultaneously. Showing imagined lines of force and revealing unseen intersections and influences.

When you look at infrared or ultraviolet imagery you see objects encoded with information that a “normal” view does not reveal. By bringing together multiple images and shapes, I’m creating/revealing extra information and constructing imagined connections.