Reality and Fantasy Engage

As writers and artists, we can all appreciate the power of collaboration.  Sometimes collaboration is simply in sharing and editing each other’s work, and sometimes collaboration is about two or more minds coming together and creating something that shares the eye of both artists. Amy Kohut and Jeffrey Spahr-Summers have created just that.  With the graveyard shift at the haunted Boulderado Hotel, these two artists seem to have taken the dark stillness of the night, and come together to create some beautiful images.

From images shot, sometimes on little more than a whim, Amy and Jeffrey come together and play with what started as one set of eyes and making it so much more.  Playing with once seemingly simplistic images, they then stir in inverted color spectrum, tangible textures and captivating plays on dimension.  The power of digital art has provided a whole new entrance into collaborative art, and Jeff and Amy have certainly passed through this new door with open arms.

Belly Up

Rebecca: What inspired this project?

amy: our big fat imaginations and our mutual admiration for each other’s work, along with our similar blending of real and digital imagery alike in our finished pieces.

jeff: ditto.

Rebecca: What are the parameters for which you operate within this concept? i.e., which one of you does what as the process unravels?

amy: this i’ve heard you talk about our jpeg bank we dip into as i do too, think we’d answer this the same.

jeff: we both browse through each others art on our shared computer at work. if a piece (whether a drawing or a photograph) catches our attention, we then proceed to photoshop and play. generally, the one who actually posts any particular piece on our blog is the one who chose it to work on and subsequently title. sometimes, however, the eventual titles themselves are also inspired by the original. amy often emails me her photographs. our basic rule is that anything is fair game, if an image ends up in our jpeg bank … it’s a candidate.

Rebecca: When you are taking the original images, are you informed by the eventual outcome?

amy: myself i’d never photographed for artistic content purposely, not for final pieces at least.  Suddenly i’m starting to notice when i see an interesting image with my camera handy i become excited that it may be a good image to be worked on for whack.  with my drawings i am not conscious of anything externally, it’s a spontaneous process.

Lazarus The Tree

jeff: i cut my teeth on traditional black and white photography (of all formats) and darkroom techniques, as well as, some early graphic design. i was a commercial photographer in chicago for a number of years. i later held many lead positions in a photo processing lab in tulsa, learning color correcting and the art of photo and negative touch up. i am fascinated by digital imaging possibilities. having played with photoshop for a few of years now (i don’t draw), i do find myself aware of what a photograph may become, but generally i am more conscious of what it is when i shoot it. frequently, normal photographic rejects turn out fantastic after photoshop. on occasion i do set up certain photographs with a particular outcome in mind.

jeff: i am also compelled to mention an old friend (anna maly of california [here is her website Accelerated Reality]). i mailed anna the pertinent software (right after it was given to me), which we learned to use together. while we didn’t actually collaborate on the same photographs, we (without question) greatly inspired each others work for a time. i have published many pieces by anna and amy both in Poetry Victims over the last few years.

Rebecca: What attracts you to altering the color spectrum?  And, in that regard, have you ever seen Ivan Albright’s work with color alteration?  He did some fantastic paintings of the same things by putting different colors on eye wands, holding them to his eye for long periods of time, and then painting from the opposite color spectrum that would present itself.

amy: myself i was interested in taking my drawings digital because of the reverse color schemes possible to unveil by inverting my images. it’s better fun then crack, practically.

jeff: i am a huge fan of ivan albright, although i tend to be more flamboyant with color. for me, the allure of altering the color spectrum is inspired by many years in africa as a child, where color (eg. paintings and beadwork) is a power ingredient in daily life. again, taking it a step further … i am into shock value.

The People Eat Cows Blues

Rebecca: Where do you find inspirations for the titles you have presented?

amy: once again – our big fat imaginations.

jeff: ditto.

Rebecca: What can we expect to see from you in the future?

amy: art and words!

jeff: art and words and publishing and chaos (for a start).

Rebecca:  And, for fun, How does the magic of the Boulderado affect your artistry?

amy: ghost power!

jeff: graveyard shift power!

Amy Kohut and Jeffrey Spahr-Summers are multi-talented best friends in Colorado. They share a computer database at Hotel Boulderado (where they work in Boulder). As a rule, they draw from each others massive collection of art and photography, thereby changing pieces at will. Anything is fair game. For more about Jeff and Amy’s projects, visit Whackular.