In 2018 I accompanied my daughter on a trip to Slovenia and just prior to that trip I had began to research the works of the Italian Metaphysical painter Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978).
The critic Robert Hughes described de Chirico’s work as resembling:
“his more representational American contemporary, Edward Hopper: their pictures’ low sunlight, their deep and often irrational shadows, their empty walkways and portentous silences creating an enigmatic visual poetry.”
I felt something about the deep shadows in works like ‘A Mystery and Melancholy of a Street’ (1913), ‘The Anxious Journey’ (1913), ‘The Red Tower” (1913) and ‘The Enigma of a Day’ (1914) solidified, in my mind, a style that I had been – subconsciously at least – developing for several years and the Slovenia trip was the first opportunity I had to consciously shoot images in that style.
Once established, this Mystery and Mystery and Melancholy would shape a new project… Anxious Journeys.
Click here to view the Slovenia Series…
-30-
All images © W N BISHOP