In Our Own Likeness (Artist Blog #2)

Yummy.

When I first saw the some of the work of Fran Herbello I was a bit grossed out. Then again, I’m sure if you looked at it all too- you’d feel the same way. It wasn’t until the third or so photograph that I was able to realize that these pictures were photoshopped. Which means, among other things, that Fran Herbello has some MAD PHOTOSHOP SKILLS! I mean, his work is amazing. The seamless way in which the objects that flow together with the texture of the human skin is eye popping.



Fran Herbello states his fascination with playing “with everyday elements creating new situations that break the usual way of seeing the familiar. I care on the skin, I make ephemeral interventions which I document with truthful, scientifically rigorous black and white images.” Herbello has it down to a science. He blends graphic- real images with objects from our everyday lives and then, after having merged them together, makes his art a statement and more believable by divorcing the pictures from all their color. His pieces of work are “sculptures and photographs at the same time, as is the case with a great part of modern day sculpture. Photography doesn’t only replace intervention, but it also increases the credibility of the result that it stimulates due to the role of notarial testimony usually attributed to the photographic medium. Fran takes good advantage of this; make it more acute by his use of black and white and his choice of precise photographic variables. As a result, fragmented bodies are as real as the unusual.” (The Alternative Museum)



I was really fascinated with his work because I enjoy working photoshop in order to merge things and create new forms of art from pieces that already exist as well as the notion of creating something entirely new. I think that, through his artwork, Herbello is successful at achieving both.