Mixed Media Fusion: The “Alchemy Series”, an artistic collaboration between Abstract Photographer Michael Endicott and Mixed Media Artist Inna Zatulovsky March 2022
Deep in the Winter of 2021, West Coast artists, Michael Endicott and Inna Zatulovsky began an artistic collaboration over a spontaneous discussion in his photo studio of various styles of origami. For Michael, the process of folding origami is giving him insight on ways to metaphorically fold wavelengths of light and combine multiple photographs to provide depth and composition of brand new stories to be written by artist and viewer alike. Halfway through the conversation, they moved one flight up to Inna’s studio where she revealed a treasure trove of fibers and materials -some picked off the forest floor, some wool roving, some papers of all textures and origins, and some manufactured plastics and metals. “Wool has amazing qualities,” says Inna, “It can be pliable like clay if you try to make 3D objects but also reflects light in soft and mystical way if it spread in thin layers.” As they moved from drawer to drawer, they realized they are both exploring the contradictory concept of “abstract realism.”
“Though our thinking and artistic process are quite different, we are both excited by the question of how our perception of visual media is affected by the way light reflects off the combined photography, wool roving and found natural materials,” continues Inna.
And so they are off on a joint journey of undefined length which has already resulted in more than ten unique works of art. “Inna has an incredible manner of re-envisioning what I have already re-envisioned once in the digital darkroom,” says Michael. Michael provides the photographic substrate on photopaper or metal, and Inna starts “fusing” a variety of materials and shapes into it. At this stage Inna is the primary writer of the new story. “Periodically, Inna invites me upstairs, to comment on how I am ‘reading the fusion’ from the technical composition point of view, and we share the “new stories” of the piece as we each perceive it. I then leave only to be invited back again to be surprised at a whole new envisioning by Inna, based on our conversation.”
The latest piece, ALCHEMY 12’s substrate is a 15x12 photograph by Michael of the scaffolding covers located over a building being painted in San Francisco, Ca. The original underlying urban abstract photograph was entitled a "Walk in the Woods at Dawn." Inna has completely transformed the piece into a new story. “I am fascinated by the way she has integrated painted plants to the underlying composition of my shot,” says Michael. “And true confessions, I am finding myself falling in love with this mysterious woman hanging right now in my studio across the room from me. And I am also greatly enjoying contemplating the angle at which Inna posed the leaf that is her lips. How much would Grace’s mood change if Inna had made a different choice?” As Inna and Michael wrestled with the title for the piece, it was serendipitously provided by a visitor to the Art Bias First Sunday of the Month Open Studios - “Good Graces.”
Your perception of the pieces will change with the distance at which you stand to view them. We call it ‘Mixed Media Fusion” because the composition and mix of materials is driven by the reflective properties of the materials,” says Michael.
