Emmanuelle Becker
Franco-American artist-photographer Emmanuelle Becker, a self-proclaimed workaholic, is almost incomparably prolific. She says that “finished” means “posted” and her Instagram account and website constitute a huge library, with rooms for botanicals, architecture, whimsical abstractions, street photography, straight portraiture, travel images, still lifes, photocomposites, and, lately … masks. The eleven surreal portrait masks in this month’s edition are just a few among many, many extraordinary, haunting examples in this corner of her library. “Unmasked,” and all of Becker’s other projects, always involve themes and variations, creative experiments that dig deeply into the visual and conceptual possibilities of each subject. Given the volume of her output, it is remarkable that each image, regardless of content, and each series, regardless of the number of elements, shows her artist’s “eye” – that ineffable knack for seeing and framing that creates visual life and very clearly distinguishes meaningful, authentic photo-art from snapshots.
"I am very curious and open to all kinds of work, but yes, I am very demanding and very (perhaps overly) confident in my artistic judgment. I am very consistent, too. If I like someone’s work, when I see an image across the room by that photographer, I know it’s theirs and I am pulled to the work. It is a kind of visceral attraction. I like singular, earnest, heartfelt art. I like quirky work that can only be done by the person who did it. I like authenticity. I like perceiving the photographer’s eye instantly and under-standing where they are coming from and where they are taking me. I don’t like trendy work and dislike the “flip” attitude in art. I am particularly moved by “Outsider” art. It is the art that touches me the most and with which I feel the most creative affinity."
Website: https://www.emmanuellebecker.co/
Instagram: @objectif_subjectif
E-mail: em.lindbergs at gmail dot com