Artist Statement
Much of my recent work takes place in the desert at a site in eastern Washington that I found two years ago and has by its gravity kept me going back. The place, for me, has a psychologically charged but neutral energy, like an unformed dream or empty canvas waiting to be acted upon.
For inspiration, in addition to the desert, I turn to books: epic novels, epic histories, and fiction rich in visual imagery. I especially appreciate thinkers who address the grandest of human themes, which are also my themes: grandeur and the ordinary, struggle and futility, illusion and disillusionment, meaningfulness, age, and death.
Working in the desert has come to be a form of meditation. Days are spent, sometimes with a crew but more often in solitude, wordlessly driving, carrying supplies, erecting structures and sets, and studying the slow progress of the sun overhead and its all-powerful, shape-changing, comfort-giving and –taking effects. My state of mind while I work can range from joy and contentedness to emptiness and doubt, and I believe these shifting emotions, intensified by an intense place, carry through into the best of my eventual photographs.
Artist Bio
Chris Engman received his BFA in photography from the University of Washington in 2003. He has shown in and around the university at the CMA, Jacob Lawrence Gallery, and the Photographic Center Northwest. Currently he shows with Greg Kucera Gallery and is a member of SOIL artists’ cooperative. He lives in the Ballard District of Seattle and makes his work in Seattle and his “giant outdoor studio” of Eastern Washington.