In the age of digital art, Walter Hugo – 29-year-old self-taught artist from south London – is something of a rarity. Turning away from all digital camera methods, he explores the photographic medium by using some of the earliest techniques – such as ambrotypes and daguerreotypes – which stand in sharp contrast with all we know about modern photography; the upshot is literally stunning.
If this intrigues you and want to get a load of his work you shouldn’t miss Walter Hugo: A Moment In An Instant World at Shizaru Gallery. On display will be three of his series – Theories I and II, Developing Shadows and Reflecting the Bright Lights.
For his latest Theories I, Hugo has utilised a self-built life sized camera to realise 16 glass plate portraits; searching for “perfect beauty”, he has tried to capture the landscape of flesh of his “classically beautiful” sitters without resorting to any retouching of digital photography. Investigating the questions of individuality, re-production and personal statements, Theories II consists of limited edition digital prints of the portraits, displayed inside Hugo’s room-sized camera hosted in the lower gallery along with a filmed performance showing Hugo pouring blue tempera paint over his prints.
Investigating the relationship between the artist and his own former studios, Developing Shadows is a passionate tribute to the sparkling London’s east end and a priceless document of its recent transformations. It employs a unique technique Hugo personally invented which consists in developing images directly onto chemically treated walls and floors to create what we might call photographic frescos in which subjects appear as ghostlike incarnations emerging from the surface.
Reflecting the Bright Lights is Hugo’s ongoing project comprising a series of glass plate portraits of London’s celebrities; subjects range from Fashion Designers, Musicians and Actors to Politicians, Astronauts and Playwrights. The contemporary notoriety of the models as opposed to the old-fashion technique employed creates an intriguing sense of timelessness capturing the celebrity status in an outstandingly captivating way.
When did you realise you wanted to be an artist?
It was more of a realisation that I’d been creating art for years, rather than an aspiration to be one. I just never felt comfortable with the title until recently as there’s no escaping from it now.
What about your “growing path”?
I’ve always enjoyed making things since I was a kid. That’s how all my study comes about, I’ll think of an idea or see something and try to work out how to make it or develop it. Then absorb myself in that process until I’ve learnt about it. I’m always doing this, in a constant state of studying something new. The world is a fascinating place.
Where does your interest in “reviving” an old-fashion technique such as the ambrotype process come from?
I’m not really interested in reviving things, that’s a misconception. These old photographic techniques have a depth of process which is particularly fascinating to study and work on evolving in some way.
Can you tell us a bit more about your self-invented process exposing images directly onto walls and floors?
I became obsessed for a while as to whether I could make photos on walls and surfaces without paper. So I researched for about 18 months, utilised another old technique, adapting it until it worked for my purpose to make something completely new.
In a way your photography strongly opposes all the “contemporary standards” of the digital era; is it just longing for a time when photography was more “authentic”?
Absolutely not, I’m trying to move things forward, and change the boundaries of what is acceptable as a photographic medium. All of my work focusses on the creation of pieces that have never been seen before, which is the essence of modernity.
How did you come up with the idea of taking pictures of contemporary London celebrities by employing the 19th century glass plate technique?
My work has some ongoing themes of the representation of individuals, and capturing the essence of a time or place. This series of work embodies both those things. I’m surrounded by lots of creative individuals and I was looking for a technique to capture a representation of them all in, in this moment. They’ll all go on to accomplish different things, and I wanted to create a piece that in twenty years time I can look back on it and see where they all are, whether they’ve risen to the top, burnt out, or done something completely different. This piece will show them now in this moment in a representation unlike any other.
Walter Hugo: A Moment In An Instant World will be running until March 24th at Shizaru Gallery, 112 Mount St, London W1K 2TU.
All images curtesy of Walter Hugo and Shizaru Gallery.
Words by Jacopo Nuvolari
