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Artist Statement for Mike Sibthorp
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Mike Sibthorp is a Photographer and Lecturer in Photography at Reading College and School of Arts & Design in Berkshire, England. Mike has a substantial background in professional corporate photography and has been teaching for fifteen years. The work in this Gallery shows a sample of Mike's personal work including landscapes and nudes. See the complete collection at http://www.mikesibthorp.com
The Landscapes
The first question everyone asks about my landscapes is "Where was that taken?". This is understandable as the primary reaction to a landscape is that of a sense of place,. However, it is not particularly important to me even though each print evokes a memory of a situation, weather, quality of light, sounds and smells, and sometimes companions. The most important thing is the print itself, the landscape being a source of material which, by application of my craft, I use to produce a work of art - the PRINT. It is the print that is the final expression of my vision, my aesthetic judgement and my craft. The landscape provides the tones, forms and textures that I interpret in subtle shades of grey in the print. It is unavoidable (indeed, why avoid it?) that my upbringing and character influence and inform my choice of subject but this, of course, is what separates one artist from another and contributes to an individual style. Incidentally, I have a problem with the word "taken". It implies simply pointing a camera and clicking and has connotations of theft!. I far prefer to say that I make my images as this is a much better reflection of the extensive thought processes and physical activity that goes into each of them.
The UK landscapes currently in the Gallery were all made on 5 x 4 Ilford film and the prints are made on Ilford paper and archivally processed. The international landscapes are made on a variety of film formats ( mostly 6 x 6cm ).The limitations of viewing the images on a computer screen and the loss of tonal depth and subtlety induced by scanning and compressing for web use means that you are not seeing the images exactly as I intended. However, believe me, the prints are to die for and exhibit all the qualities that one associates with fine art photography.
I only print to order so, if you want a print, I will make one of the size that you require (up to 20 x 24 inches). I always print with a wide border so the image size will be somewhat smaller than the paper. Prints are signed and dated on the reverse unless you ask for a signature on the front of the print.
The Nudes
The human form has always been a source of inspiration for artists. The nude generates an infinite range of emotional and creative responses informed by the experiences of the artist, the model and the viewer and the context in which the viewing takes place. As in the landscapes, the nude is a source of material and offers the same building blocks of form, texture and tone, but has the advantage of a studio environment where the additional tools of lighting, props, background and pose enable the photographer to have complete control over the structure of the image. I am not concerned with the personality of the model and I rarely include faces as these are not intended to be portraits. However, models are people and the interaction between the model and the photographer has an inevitable effect on the images.
The nudes are made on Ilford film using a variety of formats from 5 x 4 in. to 35mm as I feel appropriate.
The nude prints are made using modern technology on Bockingford water-colour paper and an ink jet printer with archival inks. This produces a rich textured finish with a delicate image quality rather like a fine etching or pencil drawing. Prints are always printed on A3 paper (about 30 x 40 cm) with a wide border and are signed on the front..
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