The beautiful forms and exploration in color of photographer John Ruggieri

[Fullframe]

We would like to introduce you to fine art photographer, John Ruggieri. He is taking some time away from his schedule and spending it with us. >>>Read past interviews

ephotos: Where are you based?

JR: I live in Boston, in the South End, a beautiful, historic urban district.

ephotos: You create on a few mediums, when did you incorporate photography into your skill set?

JR: I started when I was a teenager and got a 35mm Minolta for my birthday from my parents. I played with macro lenses a lot outside with nature and also with vintage cameras. I was definitely attracted to the landscape early on. Later in college I learned b/w developing and started playing abstractly with photography, being painterly with images. I loved night photography and also made some blurry, ethereal portraits of my father outdoors.

ephotos: You draw, paint, photograph, and design, does one feed off of or inspire the other? In other words when you have a project in mind, do you think camera first, or paintbrush, or sketch pad?

JR: And if that weren’t enough I also occasionally write art reviews and do some independent curatorial projects. I want to start my own blog!

Photographing the world around me or drawing the figure, an actual physical subject in front of me, can help to feed my abstract painting indirectly – and vice versa. Painting without a distinct goal or subject is so intuitive. To paint well I need to be in a great mental place, to be clear but with an edge and yet ready to pounce on the canvas so to speak, maybe after a workout, feeling refreshed, body and mind in synch. I have to be fresh when taking photographs, too, but it’s not as tactile or physical as painting. My aim is always toward abstraction in photography and painting, or at least making real things look very differently than the way they are normally perceived, making a charged image through that language.

The mode of working is dependent on the season or location or just what I want to work on: I love photographing when I am inundated by color and atmosphere in nature and the urban landscape, so places such as Miami and Los Angeles get my creative mojo running big time. I generally try to work on experimenting with photography indoors or back to painting when it’s winter and not as inspirational colorwise.

ephotos: Was there a photographer that inspired or influenced you?

JR: I look at everything and go to as many contemporary exhibitions – painting, sculpture, photography – as possible. I like work that is a bit avant-garde, raw, not so polished, that takes big risks. I am attracted to innovative figurative imagery and I love fashion and studied apparel design at RISD, and sometimes some of my faves happen to work in fashion: I like the conceptual bite of Paul Graves and the very digital Bola Design Experiment by Jacob Langvad and the apparent ease of Joost Vandebrug. The portraiture of Paul Specht, who photographed me in my loft. Mona Kuhn’s images are a stunning confection of color, pure pleasure. The minimalism of Morgan Cohen. The moody romance of Nan Goldin, Jack Pierson, Mark Morrisroe, Frank Yamrus, Mike + Doug Starn. Zoe Strauss’s very real work in her community, the way she shoots the dispossessed directly without sentimentality or judgment. The cheeky brilliance of Tracey Moffatt’s voyeuristic short film Heaven and Ken Probst’s Pornographic series and the Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist. I like the montage work of Jeremy Kidd and Thomas Kellner.

I’ve watched a lot of independent film, so there may be an alternative-filmic quality in my work. Movies that stand out visually and emotionally for me are My Own Private Idaho, La Promesse, and the films directed by painter Julian Schnabel.

ephotos: What type or what style of photography would you say that you shoot?

JR: I would perhaps use the term soft focus for a lot of my work, but they are not only about blur and sometimes are not blurry at all! It is definitely fine art photography.

ephotos: Tell us a little bit about the colorful photos at the “recent work” link at your site? Explain the process and the inspiration.

JR: I like to remove local flavor and convention, to make the outer world abstract. It’s a certain language in which I’ve been working on since I “discovered” abstraction after a rich foundation in drawing the figure and landscape when I was younger. The new work is about shooting landscape elements such as flowers up close and more than personal, delving into soft focus and abstraction. They sometimes seem like paintings, but they are actually printed as they are shot generally, with some minor adjustments to heighten color saturation. And I’ve started to montage images, as in the “Float” photographs of pansies in Provincetown.

ephotos: What equipment do you use (camera, format)?

JR: I have a digital Nikon.

ephotos: Where have you been recently to take pictures?

JR: At the height of summer, I was shooting in a community garden here in the South End and also on the beach in Provincetown, when I was cruising around in a vintage 1968 Mustang convertible. So fun.

ephotos: Do you ever just shoot for fun?

JR: My work is definitely a combination of extreme fun and extreme intensity. I get a bit possessed by it.

ephotos: Do you have a photo rep or an agent?

JR: Not yet. I exhibit with galleries such as Schoolhouse Gallery in Provincetown and F. collective in Hudson, NY. I sell my work through them and from my website or studio.

ephotos: Do you deal with any stock photo agencies? If so, are they treating you fairly?

JR: I haven’t used any yet. My work is a bit anti-stock, not that I wouldn’t enjoy working with the right agency. But it’s mostly about art and though I love color I am not a conservative photographer.

ephotos: Do you use a resource site or publication?

JR: I like taking a peek at iheartphotograph.com from time to time and poring over a new photographer’s work online.



ephotos: Can you give us a little bit of background information about Abstraction Made Elementary?

JR: Well, that’s a timely and untimely question. I’m in the final stage of dissolving this charitable corporation, so I can devote more time to being creative and to my art career. AME was active for over 10 years and was written about in Newsweek. I founded it to bring abstract art projects to young children, mostly low-income, and to stretch the boundaries of traditional art education and also what public art is. It was a great big ball of fun and hard work and collaboration with so many talented and generous people. I really enjoyed working with children, and we showed their amazing abstract paintings to the public through exhibitions and public art projects. I still have a lot of the paintings and want to have them donated to and safeguarded in a collection and have them on view for the public. There’s a really great documentary about the public art project ART@NIGHT by filmmaker John D. Scott: http://johnruggieri.com/artpublic.htm

ephotos: What are you working on now, photo or non-photo related?

JR: I am working more on oil painting, keeping the color more pure than I have in the past. My recent photography and interest in effervescent color keeps me longing for bright color, but in painting I am able to mix and mix and mix so it becomes subtler. I am also doing some figure drawing, getting back to basics.

ephotos: What do you think will be the next big trend in the photo industry?

JR: I’d love to see the commercial world continue to open up to less slick work and to break down borders between fine art and work for hire and to really take chances and lead the viewer, reader, or consumer down an adventuresome road.

ephotos: What do you think about what we’re doing at ephotos?

JR: You guys are great! And I love how you keep the quality very high and are open to more experimental work such as mine.

ephotos: Is there anything else you’d like to say about yourself or your work?

JR: I really don’t believe in narrowly defining what an artist, photographer, or designer does or should be. It’s better to stretch yourself and your work without feeling the need to fit into a pre-made niche – or ditch! Then focus that vision. I can focus much more from within a mindset of experimentation, play, and openness. And challenging myself to rethink things all the time.

ephotos: Thank you John! I’m sure others will be inspired by your words and your work. Stay focused!

Read past interviews

[paparazza]

Wow, fascinating interview! You sound like a true Renaissance man! As someone who works in the ad biz, I really appreciate what you say about blurring the line between commercial work and fine art. Keep up the great work!