ONWARD Compé

While the ONWARD Compé ’12 submission deadline has come and gone, we wanted to spotlight one last photographer before the selected photographers are announced on December 16th.

This time around we found the photographs of David Welch to be some of the most intriguing and fully realized work out of the staggering number of submissions. His series, “Material World” calls upon the form of sculpture and other influences from artists who have taken up consumerism as their cause in art, while also getting a few chuckles from the head-scratching viewer, oft left to ask, “How the heck did he do that?”.

David was kind enough to share more insight by way of an interview conducted through email.

Jacob Pastrovich: In your most recognizable series, “Material World,” your photographs, or at least the assemblages you photograph, riff off the idea of the Native American totem pole. What ideas are you drawing from in creating these vertical sculptures?

David Welch: I am interested in the idea of totems or totem poles serving as symbols, narrative and social biography.  I learned that the structure of the totem wasn’t necessarily meant to be read linearly, example top-to-bottom or bottom-to-top, but that the characters within the structure all speak to different histories and statues, and situated in front of residences or community gathering locations.  Most of the totems within “Material World” speak to this type of totem typically found in British Columbia, however, others are more simple, symbolic totems like my “Burger Totem” and “Toilet Paper Totem.”

"Burger Totem"

JP: It’s very clear that your work comments on consumerism and society’s reliance on goods. What brought you to want to take up this commentary in the first place?

DW: I have a background in economics and economic philosophy and while at graduate school I started researching ways to marry photography and economics.  I was always interested in consumerism and the importance of objects within consumer societies.  The communicative abilities of objects are really quite fascinating so I started working along that vein which lead me to my project.

I’m into the work of photographers Vik Muniz, Andreas Gursky and Chris Jordan as well as sculptor Tom Friedman. Gursky and Jordan have worked within the topic of consumerism and have greatly influenced my work. I saw Jordan speak about his Running the Numbers book at the Bluesphere art event in Charleston, SC and got excited about the work.  His work also speaks of accumulation, but it is very matter-of-factly, equating certain objects with a certain statistical significance.  This is outstanding work but I thought it better to have a more identifiable structure, one that has a more whimsical presentation all the while encouraging debate about a serious subject matter.

I discovered Tom’s work when researching ways to make the work speak to my own consumption habits.  It’s almost hypocritical to make work about consumption without acknowledging your own participation.

JP: There’s obviously a bit of comedy inherently tied to these images. Without the context of other photographs from the series, what, if anything, do you hope that the viewer might glean from coming across one of these singular images?

DW: I intend the work to serve allegorically, having a humorous, almost whimsical surface all the while containing deeper messages that are critical but not necessarily negative.  It’s possible to understand this coming across only one of the photographs, but taken as a series makes it a bit more concrete.

JP: Could you take us through the typical process, from the idea’s inception to completion for a single photo from the “Material World” series?

"Beer Can Totem"

DW: The pieces come by way of rough mental sketches or napkin sketches and I take it from there.  I try to work with materials that are commonplace and easily identifiable – objects people can relate to.  Many of the objects represent personal consumption whereas others represent an influence of commonly discarded consumer artifacts.  The sculptures are formed, photographed and then dismantled, assuring their preservation only in photographs much like many earthworks artists from the past.

JP: One question that I’m sure you get a lot (and I hope you don’t mind sharing to some degree)…how do you hold these things together?

DW: Nearly all of the sculptures in the series are created by me and shaped using basic sculpting techniques.  Finding the materials can be difficult but doable. It just takes a little time and patience.

JP: Some of them seem natural or found, (i.e. “Satellite Totem,” “Crash”) others are clearly constructed by you. Can you talk a bit more about that?

DW: Most of the sculptures, including the “Satellite Totem,” are created by my hand and then dismantled.  Any post-production work is minimal and reinforces the totem’s existence only in photographs.  There are others that are found and I didn’t want to limit myself or the project so I included some that are naturally existing.

JP: According to your site, you consider the start of your photographic career in 2004 after you saved money as a taxi driver to then photograph in Latin America. How did the two experiences correlate and what was your experience with photography prior to that?

"Woman & Vicuña," Peru

DW: Before the trip I was interested in photography but I wasn’t too invested in it.  Having the camera to document the trip and subsequently putting together a self-published, Blurb-esque book of the photos intensified my interests.  Having those records edited and sequenced was my first hands-on experience with the power of photography as a medium of communication and I was hooked from then on.
All photos © David Welch.

Take a look at more of David’s work on his site as well as the other two ONWARD Compé ’12 submitted photographer features here and here. Though the open call has ended, check back soon and often for more news about the ONWARD Summit, other articles, and announcements. Best of luck to all the photographers that submitted!