AN ARTIST FINDS NEW VISUAL TEXTURES AND EXPRESSIVE POTENTIAL IN ADOPTING AN OLDER TECHNIQUE

by Edward M. Gómez

Sometimes — or is it all the time? — artists may find it hard to predict how, when, or where their next big discoveries will be made, or what turns their work might take next, thematically or technically, as it continues to evolve.

Often, in art-making, happenstance is everything; stumbling upon a particular material or tool, a piece of interesting information, or a hitherto unfamiliar subject can open up whole new ways of thinking about and producing one’s art.

For the young, New York-based artist Aubrey Ashlyn Rye, who studied photography, website design, graphic design, and other subjects at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, in the northern part of Alabama, cameras and their way of capturing images has always been something fascinating and intriguing. In a recent interview, the artist told brutjournal: “From an early age, I remember passing by the cameras on display in various stores and wishing that I had had my own; to play with these little gadgets seemed so powerful and yet so out of reach. I knew nothing about photography then — that it could stop time in its tracks, convey messages, communicate ideas, capture beautiful — or grim — fleeting moments, or preserve memories of times and places.”