David Arky
Personal Background
David Arky is a commercial photographer from New York City. He began professionally in 1975. He studied photography at the Art Center College of Design and at Rochester Institute of Technology. He finds inspiration outside of his work from his wife and two kids. He has taught at the International Center for Photography since 2001.
Style
David Arky’s photography is modern and minimalistic. Most of his work are still lifes, however he has done a few portraits. He is one of the first photographers to use x-ray photography. He has used several layers in some of his x-ray images, creating a unique collage of objects. He usually adds color to these images as well, giving more life than just a plain x-ray.
Philosophy
Much of Arky’s photographs are commercial. However, he doesn't take photos just to get paid. He believes in capturing every detail of every picture he takes. This is shown in his photographs as he uses intricately detailed objects or backgrounds. His conceptual still lifes are very abstract and have little to no meaning if taken literally, but convey a subliminal meaning that can be realized by taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture.
Influences
David Arky has inspired me to pay attention to how shadows look and where light is coming from. Light is used in a creative way in almost every one of his pieces, whether that be shadows, reflections, or a gradual shift in value. I am also intrigued by his x-ray photography, which is unlike anything I've ever seen before. It's interesting how you can perfectly see through solid objects you would never be able to see through otherwise. I do not have access to an x-ray, but I am able to take pictures in a way that is different than normal everyday viewing.
Compare & Contrast
Luckily, I had just enough watches to match the amount in Arky's photo. Most of the time spent on this photo was setting it up perfectly, rather than taking the actual photo. When taking the picture, I tried my best to match the direction of the light source with Arky's. In the end, this didn't matter as I ended up putting in artificial shadows during editing. Overall, this was a fun photo to set up and take, but if I had to change one thing it would be how I arranged the watches. I could bring them a little bit closer to even better match Arky's photograph.
With this photo, I payed attention to how David Arky unpeeled the banana so I could match it. Unfortunately, after I peeled the banana, I realized that I peeled it from the top down rather from the bottom up, like Arky did. I also payed attention to how the light was hitting my objects, so I could best match Arky's photo. I took this picture outside in the middle of the afternoon in Florida, so I had to get it quickly before the chocolate completely melted. This was probably one of the quickest photos to edit. All I had to do was cut out the banana and chocolate (including their shadows) and paint the blue background.
This was probably the most creative picture I had to take. I had to make sure that I sliced the apple correctly so I could match the shape of the peach in Arky's photo. Looking back at it, the apple could have been a bit thinner, but overall I'm proud of how it turned out. When editing, I copied the layer of the apple and flipped it upside down, like I learned in class for the Symmetry project.
Artist Statement
I want my pictures to represent society. The first picture, Collection, represents how we all look different, but all perform mostly the same functions. My second picture. Melted, represents how we peel away when those around us melt. Finally, my third picture, Reflected, represents how our actions mirror themselves in others' actions. I like how the apple's reflection is cut off, as we don't always completely notice how we affect others.
Sources
https://www.arky.com/
http://fremingallery.com/project/davidarky/
https://www.icp.org/users/david-arky
http://fremingallery.com/project/davidarky/
https://www.icp.org/users/david-arky
Image Sources
Chronograph Group
https://www.arky.com/watches-and-jewelry/c13w2c76zyb6dtj8j0o143lzd6mgtt
Banana Chocolate
https://www.arky.com/food-drink/8s8pbxa94pkq9ihdphvrlz00cu7a2j
Peach Greek Yogurt
https://www.arky.com/food-drink/7vvbtdu8qpgr87gtw9t3iuc3a74f1p
https://www.arky.com/watches-and-jewelry/c13w2c76zyb6dtj8j0o143lzd6mgtt
Banana Chocolate
https://www.arky.com/food-drink/8s8pbxa94pkq9ihdphvrlz00cu7a2j
Peach Greek Yogurt
https://www.arky.com/food-drink/7vvbtdu8qpgr87gtw9t3iuc3a74f1p