Reality in Flux

Photography - Website

Andrew Aiello is a Los Angeles based photographer working mostly with 35mm film. He feels that shooting film allows him to breath, substituting the ’shoot, review, shoot again, review again’ tendency of digital with ’slow down, see the moment, shoot, let go’. The process allows him to experience the present he’s capturing more honestly and fully, and it rids him of the pressures of perfection. After taking the shot, he’s never 100% sure what will happen with the image, and so the journey begins.

“New experiences of old memories” is a series of images taken in Mérida, Mexico in 2023. After processing the film, Aiello discovered the negative had been damaged by liquid. The effects of the damage played with the film in ways unimaginable and, while editing the photos, he worked to accentuate the artifacts created by chemical reactions, as they were now a part of each image’s story.

Aiello feels that each image has multiple lives; being born when it was captured, on the verge of death during processing, born again in the editing process, and then truly living in its full vibrancy as prints. He would like you to view each image separately, imagining what it could have been, imagining what it’s gone through, and then seeing what it is. But, he’d also like you to view them all together, as a whole representation of proudly damaged pieces coming together to create a tapestry of perfect imperfections.

Aiello hopes that the images help inspire us to be more present and open. That we can always find beauty; even in those things that, at first, don’t seem to be.

35mm color reversal film on baryta coated cotton fiber paper

Mixed-Media on Canvas - Website

With his art, Cameron hopes to capture the mystery of the abstract visual medium as a study of human consciousness and emotion. With a focus on color, shape-work, and composition, Cameron’s large scale works are as impactful as they are contemplative.

“I love asymmetry, I love odd colors and strange marks, and weirdness on the canvas. I consider myself just as peculiar as my work, and so I guess looking at my paintings is arguably the most authentic way to see me as a human being. I want viewers to be sucked into the energy of a piece because that's exactly what I do when I paint."

Cameron focuses on a wide range of expressions from geometric to organic, combining psychedelic sensations with color journeys to explorations of the depths of what emotion looks like on the canvas. 

"I am an avid ecstatic dancer, and many times I think that painting and dancing are one in the same. When I dance, I move my body as if I'm painting. When I paint, I move my body as if I'm dancing.”

In viewing his art, Cameron hopes the viewer is engulfed, swallowed whole, and transported to a different place where words are not the primary mode of engagement. Whether that's to stand close to a painting and be sucked into the sensory experience, or to reflect on the emotions created in one's body, Cameron intends a visceral inward contemplation.

"Words always elude me, and realism in my artwork never seemed to capture the essence of what I wanted to convey. They're so concrete, which has the downside of being too attached to a preconceived notion. I believe there is what we can perceive with our eyes and what we can feel in our souls, this otherworldly energy that connects us.”

Collage - Instagram

Age Appropriate: The child’s reality does not run a straight line. Their imagination overflows like a babbling brook, seeping between the crevices into their lives. Imagination mixes with reality. Reality is imposed by imagination. Each child living in their own creation, curated to their own making. Like a child’s imagination my work grows and evolves as I sift through the pages of vintage magazines and old children’s books. My imagination developing as I go. Creating stories with each additional image I cut out. I am an explorer, and this is my expedition to construct without the formulating of an initial plan; “let’s see what is born today” I tell myself each time I sit down to create… This becomes my freedom. This is my play ground. These pieces are intended to do the same. To fuel the viewer with intrigue, wonder, and curiosity. Opening the doors to their imagination, and allowing for the creation of their own stories. Wonder. Imagine. And Always Play.

Photography - Website

Over three years, I delved into the bewildering, enchanting, and peculiar dimensions of this city, capturing the soul of its neighborhoods, people, and voices. This collection serves as a poetic journey through the mysterious tapestry of LA.

This is an ode to my journey through the enigmatic landscape of LA.

In the heart of LA, I discovered the diverse landscapes of its neighborhoods—the pulse of the city. Each street held stories, and every corner echoed with the voices of its inhabitants.

From the exclusive to the broken, I embraced the entirety of LA's spectrum.

Photography became my medium coupled with with recorded sound bits, freezing moments in time that reflected the essence of my LA experience.

Alongside these visual stories, poems emerged, breathing life into each photograph.

Amidst the vastness of LA, I found isolation and abandonment. Yet, through my lens, microphone, and pen, I turned the isolation into a voice, the abandonment into a narrative.