Biography:
Erik Hagen is an artist who explores the physical and psychological landscapes of low-wage service workers through personal documentary, staged photographs, and narrative text. Drawing on his previous and current experiences as a retail worker and...
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Focus:Fine Art, Documentary, Photography, Art
Skills:Image Archiving, Digital Printing, Lighting Tech, Photo Assisting, Color Correction, Film Scanning, Photo Editing, Black & White Printing, Color Printing, Retouching, Film Processing, Film Photography
Topics
Abstract, Environmental, Fine Art, Personal, Photography, Still life
Each of these images is a platitude, an empty expression that is pleasing to see. I borrow from the style of look book photographs, using a muted palette and muted light. The existing light, be it the sun or the ceiling lamp, highlights the objects around me, forcing me to fixate on them and create an image. I wonder what value images have for me, can they make me money, can they help me understand depression or meaninglessness. I think if I'm lucky they can make me money, but I don't know if they can give me a deeper understanding of life. Yet when I put all these empty expressions together, when there is a multitude of them, they describe to me something more: the record of a sad winter. I remember that this is my perception, the audience may never see it, and again they seem to be useless platitudes.