Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Folgen’s photostream is at once varied and consistent. His subjects are exciting and different but his style is a consistent use of black and white with small pops of color and wild horizontal blurring. This is a great example, with the sunshine backlighting everything so it’s black with hints of gold from the sun and groundcover. There is the suggestion of speed from the blurring -- a hint of jeopardy.
I admit I am not sure what I am seeing below, but if that’s okay, click here:
I don’t know what I am seeing. Sure, there is a man on the left observing something, but what. Perhaps because it is so salient in the news, it reminds me of the Surfside condominium that collapsed. Since he posted it in March, he is either prescient or it really has nothing to do with what I see. It seems like a building on the left and the deconstruction on the left. There is a screened layer of vertical lines that echo the retro pattern in his shirt and then that implosion of chaos on the right. Even if I do not know what he intended, this picture captures my attention and offers multiple possibilities.
Speaking of not knowing… When I first glanced at this picture, I thought there was a man watching someone else run past, a fast runner lost in a blur. Then I looked close and thought, that actually looks like a whale. Now I don’t know at all and that’s okay. I don’t think I have to understand everything or recognize all elements in a picture. Really, my favorite artists are Klee and Kandinsky, I have no need to understand what I am looking at in order to love it.
I like artists with a point of view and Folgen surely does have that. The fact that some of his pictures are not ones I can easily describe does not mean I cannot like and appreciate their vigor and eccentricity. His pictures are full of energy thanks to the blur and the controlled chaos. His work is exciting. It challenges the viewer and has a sort of bravado, he seems to say, “This what I do whether you get it or not.”
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