In this interview from Tunica Magazine's third issue, photographer Charlie Engman, famous for his surreal collages and intimate, (sometimes) nude portraits of his mother, takes us inside his world. Shop the full issue of Tunica HERE!
WINSLOW LAROCHE: I was excited to speak to you through Google for this conversation, but then I thought: "Would the new Instagram chat work better? How do you think your art is affected by the rapid ebbs and flows of the Internet? Do you think your connection with the Internet will change in 2014 or in the near future?
CHARLIE ENGMAN: I have to admit, I have this weird feeling that I left the Internet a long time ago. Of course, like most people, I spent an inordinate amount of time on the web, but it's become much more of a library or slideshow than anything else; I graze like a cow. I think I'm as much affected by it as I am by seasonal depression or something like that. Right now, I can only see that ambivalence getting deeper in 2014, or maybe ambivalence isn't exactly the right word. But I definitely feel like it's more of a resource than anything else. It doesn't carry the weight that maybe it did when I first started adding my work to it. It's been normalized.
So you are trying to be less affected by the Internet's scope? Also, do you believe in developing a personal brand?
Yes, well, the whole branding question is a whole other ball game! It's not that I'm actively trying to be affected by the Internet, it's more that it's been normalized, like I said. I'm certainly affected by the things I read and see online, and the connections with people and institutions I make there, but it doesn't feel like it supersedes other forms of communication necessarily.
But, about branding, do I agree or disagree with the artist and their brand mentality? It's funny, just this week I had a lengthy conversation with a commercial photo agent who represents some artists I really admire, and he asked me to boil my work down to three essential concerns. It was funny, because while I was initially put off by the question, I immediately had an answer. It was something I've really been reacting against lately, too, because commercial work all comes off the back of some kind of brand-able element. It's confusing and frustratingly egoistic territory. Everyone is interested in a lot of different things, so naturally the concept of branding seems unnecessarily limiting. But I guess it depends on your goals and priorities. And everyone has their patterns.
Are most of your shoots collaborative works with the editor and art director or do you come in with something calculated and planned out to engage with? Where do you think your influence ends and begins with a shoot? What do you believe is the role of an artist's point of view when it comes to editorial photography?
In my case, the majority of my editorial and even commercial shoots are collaborative, up to a point. But of course each project is its own project. My general approach isn't particularly calculated, so I usually try to approach projects from the inside out. It really ranges—sometimes a client will give me a storyboard and expect me to reproduce it, sometimes a client will present me a problem and ask me to find my own solution. I would like to believe the artist's point of view is the essential ingredient to editorial photography, but it's really a case-by-case scenario.
John Baldessari's work revolved around communication, and I believe in that logic whole-heartedly, so I've been researching symbols lately and how humans digest them, consciously and subconsciously. What are some symbols that follow you and/
WINSLOW LAROCHE: I was excited to speak to you through Google for this conversation, but then I thought: "Would the new Instagram chat work better? How do you think your art is affected by the rapid ebbs and flows of the Internet? Do you think your connection with the Internet will change in 2014 or in the near future?
CHARLIE ENGMAN: I have to admit, I have this weird feeling that I left the Internet a long time ago. Of course, like most people, I spent an inordinate amount of time on the web, but it's become much more of a library or slideshow than anything else; I graze like a cow. I think I'm as much affected by it as I am by seasonal depression or something like that. Right now, I can only see that ambivalence getting deeper in 2014, or maybe ambivalence isn't exactly the right word. But I definitely feel like it's more of a resource than anything else. It doesn't carry the weight that maybe it did when I first started adding my work to it. It's been normalized.
So you are trying to be less affected by the Internet's scope? Also, do you believe in developing a personal brand?
Yes, well, the whole branding question is a whole other ball game! It's not that I'm actively trying to be affected by the Internet, it's more that it's been normalized, like I said. I'm certainly affected by the things I read and see online, and the connections with people and institutions I make there, but it doesn't feel like it supersedes other forms of communication necessarily.
But, about branding, do I agree or disagree with the artist and their brand mentality? It's funny, just this week I had a lengthy conversation with a commercial photo agent who represents some artists I really admire, and he asked me to boil my work down to three essential concerns. It was funny, because while I was initially put off by the question, I immediately had an answer. It was something I've really been reacting against lately, too, because commercial work all comes off the back of some kind of brand-able element. It's confusing and frustratingly egoistic territory. Everyone is interested in a lot of different things, so naturally the concept of branding seems unnecessarily limiting. But I guess it depends on your goals and priorities. And everyone has their patterns.
Are most of your shoots collaborative works with the editor and art director or do you come in with something calculated and planned out to engage with? Where do you think your influence ends and begins with a shoot? What do you believe is the role of an artist's point of view when it comes to editorial photography?
In my case, the majority of my editorial and even commercial shoots are collaborative, up to a point. But of course each project is its own project. My general approach isn't particularly calculated, so I usually try to approach projects from the inside out. It really ranges—sometimes a client will give me a storyboard and expect me to reproduce it, sometimes a client will present me a problem and ask me to find my own solution. I would like to believe the artist's point of view is the essential ingredient to editorial photography, but it's really a case-by-case scenario.
John Baldessari's work revolved around communication, and I believe in that logic whole-heartedly, so I've been researching symbols lately and how humans digest them, consciously and subconsciously. What are some symbols that follow you and/