My involvement with photography began in the early 1970’s in Chapel Hill, NC working in a social landscape mode under the spell of photographer Robert Frank. Eventually, I became interested in other twentieth century art through art history courses taken in graduate school at the University of Iowa. I also became intrigued by the immediacy of expression found in drawing. In one form or another, these interests have directed my work for the past thirty years. Marcel Duchamp with his readymades, re-contextulizations, and involvement with Dada, along with Man Ray, surrealism and Modernist doctrine in general, have been influential in shaping my art consciousness and my work. I’m a formalist at heart, and my method of working is with the “constructed image”, in which I construct things for the expressed purpose of being photographed and that have visual meaning from the fixed vantage point of the camera. In early work, this took the form of simple constructions based on perception and illusion. Later work, while still grounded in structure and whimsy, also attempts to obliquely reference broader cultural concerns such as the media's influence, animal rights, and technology.
Photographers that have interested me in terms of my own work include Jaromir Funke, Robert Cummings, Ken Josephson, Olivia Parker, Jan Groover, Robert and Shana Parke-Harrisson among others. I also admire the book Evidence by Larry Sultan and Mike Mandel, published in 1977.
I live in Roanoke, VA and am Professor of Art at Hollins University, where I have been since 1980.
Robert Sulkin
Photographers that have interested me in terms of my own work include Jaromir Funke, Robert Cummings, Ken Josephson, Olivia Parker, Jan Groover, Robert and Shana Parke-Harrisson among others. I also admire the book Evidence by Larry Sultan and Mike Mandel, published in 1977.
I live in Roanoke, VA and am Professor of Art at Hollins University, where I have been since 1980.
Robert Sulkin
