UnScene Artists
Tyler Gipe
Winner - UnScene San Diego 2008
My name is Tyler Gipe and I am a 23 year old photographer from Huntington Beach. I have a BA is Visual Arts Media, with an emphasis in photography from the University of California, San Diego.
The juxtaposition of man made objects and nature fascinates me. While the earth is full of movement and flowing patterns, the objects that men have created have taken on a different style. In a place where there only exists nature, one can become accustomed to the way things look and move. Likewise, in a place where there only exists man made objects, one feels comfortable with the way those things look and move. It is only when the two are pushed up against each other that something truly interesting can be seen. The one accentuates the look and movement of the other.
San Diego if full of these juxtapositions as it is a metropolis and a coastal city. The beauty of a photograph is how it can cause someone to stop, look, and think about something that they may have otherwise ignored. The most influential images to me are the ones that make me consider where I am amongst my surroundings, and what I do to contribute to the way things are.
About the Work
While trees are being knocked down, and pavement is being spread across the land, there is a new type of growth occurring in our time. In the place of planting plants and trees, is a planting and erecting of metal and cement. In these eight photos there is a vertical theme. There exists a landscape, and out of it grows something made by man. Shot in black and white, the object stands out clear and structural against its natural background. Much attention is given to the shape and composition of these objects. They are almost as formally composed as product photography, putting on display these man made objects. As people have become accustomed to the odd structures that exist around them, I hope with this series to bring attention to what we are doing to the Earth. Why do these things exist? What do we do to contribute to them being there?
