John Martinez
A Certain Curiosity
24×30
Epson Enhanced Matte Paper (192 gsm)
$ 1,200
1/1
I strive to mix beauty, drama and a sense of ambiguity in my work. I think of my portraits as an interpretation of the person I photograph rather than a representation of them. This philosophy creates portraits that sit between reality and fiction.
This picture was part of a collection of triptychs that featured a cast of characters lost in their thoughts. Although separated from its original context, the portrait still aims to emanate a sense of mystery and uncertainty. The predominant shades of black are meant to concentrate the audience’s attention to the emotion of the subject and can be a clue into the character’s psyche.
As the viewer and the subject in the photograph stare into each other, a silent dialogue is created between the two and hopefully leads the audience into imagining what could be going on inside the subject’s mind and who or what she could be staring into.