Arne Svenson is self taught as a photographer, but his sensibility was largely
formed by his early work as a therapist/educator working with severely disabled
children. His vision embraces the unusual, quirky individuality of people
and places and represents them with beauty, clarity and reverence. Most
of his work is created in the controlled environment of the studio, but
even when he ventures out to record the world, the vision is still informed
by these qualities.
Svenson works serially and obsessively on discrete projects which vary greatly, yet share these qualities. A sense of humor and fatalism allows Svenson to move freely from one obsession to the next, always manifest with extreme craft, diligence and love.
In one of his earliest, exhibited at Lieberman & Saul Gallery in 1992, Svenson transformed plants and flowers into mutated creations which appear to have been surgically transformed. He sewed pansy patches on to damaged flowers, or combined one species with another to somehow better function in this world. The encyclopedic nature of these series is seen in a later project called Faggots in which he invited gay men indiscriminately to his studio and had them pose in a completely neutral environment, either clothed or naked. The series reveals the impossibility of stereotyping and the fascination of the individual. An ongoing relationship with the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia which houses an enormous collection of medical oddities has produced work which revels in the beauty of the grotesque.
Regular trips to Las Vegas over many years with his partner who was stationed there on business forced Svenson out of the studio. The bizarre, artificial yet mundane surroundings spurred him to create a deadpan yet luscious black and white record of the trappings of Oz in the desert. Svenson's first book entitled Prisoners came about after the discovery of a collection of turn of the century glass plate negatives from Northern California recording convicted criminals as classic frontal and profile mug shots. He lovingly printed these negatives, bringing the subjects alive, and painstakingly researched each of their stories. The mug shots of Faggots and Prisoners presaged his most celebrated project to date- that of his loving portrait series of a collection of sock monkeys which was published in 2002, which reproduced 200 of a collection of almost 2000, each with as much uniqueness and clarity as a DNA model. The current project which has occupied Svenson for several years is the recording of sculptural forensic heads, constructed by master forensic model makers in which he somehow brings life back to these forgotten victims. Twin Palms will publish a monograph of this work in 2010.
Svenson works serially and obsessively on discrete projects which vary greatly, yet share these qualities. A sense of humor and fatalism allows Svenson to move freely from one obsession to the next, always manifest with extreme craft, diligence and love.
In one of his earliest, exhibited at Lieberman & Saul Gallery in 1992, Svenson transformed plants and flowers into mutated creations which appear to have been surgically transformed. He sewed pansy patches on to damaged flowers, or combined one species with another to somehow better function in this world. The encyclopedic nature of these series is seen in a later project called Faggots in which he invited gay men indiscriminately to his studio and had them pose in a completely neutral environment, either clothed or naked. The series reveals the impossibility of stereotyping and the fascination of the individual. An ongoing relationship with the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia which houses an enormous collection of medical oddities has produced work which revels in the beauty of the grotesque.
Regular trips to Las Vegas over many years with his partner who was stationed there on business forced Svenson out of the studio. The bizarre, artificial yet mundane surroundings spurred him to create a deadpan yet luscious black and white record of the trappings of Oz in the desert. Svenson's first book entitled Prisoners came about after the discovery of a collection of turn of the century glass plate negatives from Northern California recording convicted criminals as classic frontal and profile mug shots. He lovingly printed these negatives, bringing the subjects alive, and painstakingly researched each of their stories. The mug shots of Faggots and Prisoners presaged his most celebrated project to date- that of his loving portrait series of a collection of sock monkeys which was published in 2002, which reproduced 200 of a collection of almost 2000, each with as much uniqueness and clarity as a DNA model. The current project which has occupied Svenson for several years is the recording of sculptural forensic heads, constructed by master forensic model makers in which he somehow brings life back to these forgotten victims. Twin Palms will publish a monograph of this work in 2010.
Portraits 2005-2006 [view images]
Sock Monkeys 2001-2002 [view images]
Las Vegas 1992-2003 [view images]
Botanicals 1992 [view images]