Re-Phoenix Three Forty-One
Two Versions : Thirty Four Iterations
RePhoenix is the continuation of its predecessor Phoenix 341. The format was changed to something close to a square, which I personally find to be one of the more challenging aspect ratios to undertake. This incarnation of the image sets focused on balancing gestural washes against graphic elements in general, where Phoenix 341 focused on forcing the original layout to work within the literals of the image set.
During the normal course of developing an image (usually after thirty or so iterations) are “distilled”. The most successful elements from each variant are reassembled into a new master. However, in order to keep up with the viewer’s appetite for product I have started to view these distillations as the beginning of a new generation, not the refinement of the current work. This essentially makes things more compartmentalized, allowing each stage of a single images evolution to be better represented. This concept was employed during the development and posting of the Four Poor series.
Distilling the works is usually very chaotic as some of the differences can be substantial (over the life of a series) and can create a nice tension when integrated. These integration sessions are usually when the works start to breath, they are no longer searching as much as they are maturing.