There is something magical about the use of space and distortion in the work of Richard Vergez. His post-photography mixed-media techniques always employ the physical to create the 'sound' of silence. Play his stop-animations on loop and lose yourself in the wonderful creative mind of Richard Vergez. 

"In three sentences, how would you explain your work?"

I create surreal spaces for characters and shapes to interact in a distorted reality. There is always a story. Simplicity is key.

"Tell me about your process."

Each piece starts from sourcing and manually cutting paper imagery. For these specific pieces, I cut out and isolated the object(face/body) on a blank sheet of paper. Then, the cut out piece is exposed on the digital scanner bed, manipulating it with my hand by shifting as the light passes underneath. I do a few passes until the desired shape is achieved.Different variations of shifts can then be constructed into stop-motion animations.

"Your work uses space in a very unique way, can you tell us more about the use of space in your art."

Space is very important and deliberately left open in my works. It symbolizes a rest or silence not often found in our cluttered reality. Space adds emphasis to the focal point of my picture plane, and in itself can, too, become the focal point.

To quote John cage: “There is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time. There is always something to see, something to hear. In fact, try as we may to make a silence, we cannot.” 

I am attempting to make silence with my work.

"What are the themes of your work?"

Anonymity plays an important part. The human brain is so reliant on wanting to instantly recognize something or someone as soon as they see it. I aim to disrupt that by often obscuring and manipulating the eyes on a face or any other defining facial characteristics. I like to explore surreal dimensions found in dream states or psychedelic experiences. Constant exploration and experimentation is always thematic. It is important to get lost in the abyss of imagination.

"Do you consider yourself to be a photographer?"

Photography is my favorite art form, and although I do not actively shoot photos, they are my main source of inspiration. I feel I understand photography the best and it inspires me to push the limits of what can be done with the medium by looking backwards and deconstructing a bit. For such a long time the focus has been to be in the avant-garde. I feel we are at the point now where we are too advanced and gaps have been left open behind us.As an arriére-garde photographer, my aim is to simplify and fill those gaps.