John Chervinsky

     I chose to write about John Chervinsky. He was a self-taught photographer. He was fascinated by the concept of time and used it in his work. The work I liked was from his series titled Studio Physics. For this series, Chervinsky would create a still life. He would then crop the image and send it off to a painting factory to be painted in oil paint by an anonymous painter. The painting would then be sent back to him. He would then position the painting into the still life and recapture the image. In doing this he does a couple of things. He captures the passage of time, and he captures reality vs. representation.  

    I truly love the above piece because of how it represents the passage of time. While some images can capture the passage of time through motion, he was able to do it without motion. I love how the vibrant colors of the full-blooming flowers contrast with the dead-wilting flowers. I especially like it because that is what the flowers once looked like, so you can imagine what all the flowers would have looked like. I also like the contrast between the fabricated painting and the real texture of the flowers. I thought this work was done as a composite until I read how he did it. I think his actual process makes it even more interesting as well. I also liked the contrast between all the colors. The vibrance of the flower's vs the more subtle frame and door.