Nick Veasey è un fotografo diverso da quelli che siamo abituati a conoscere. Perché non si limita a catturare l’immagine ma entra dentro di essa, mostrandocene l’intimità.

E’ così che nascono le foto a raggi x di Nick, scavando nell’essenza degli oggetti che, seppur a volte banali, riescono a mostrare un volto nuovo. O, più semplicemente, rivelano quello che a volte ci sfugge: l’intimità.

You take photographs of any kind of object, from insects to entire airplanes: what kind of machinery do you use? Can you tell us about your “lead-lined” studio? It seems to be quite a complicated thing.

I don’t take photographs in the normal sense. I take x-rays. X-Rays are photon’s just like the light that surrounds us now. It’s just that they are dangerous photons that work in a spectrum invisible to the human eye.

I use a variety of x-ray machines but they all work in basically the same way a hospital x-ray machine does. Some are better at x-raying living things, some better with inanimate objects. My x-ray ‘studio’ is like a lead lined bank vault. It has thick lead walls that stop the radiation escaping. It’s difficult to explain really as it is nothing like conventional photography and conventional photographic studios. It’s all geiger counters, kilovolts and chemicals.

I imagine that you have to use different materials for different subjects. What is for example the difference between the colour shots and the black and white ones, can you capture tints with a special process?

All the colour is put on in post production. My master x-rays are monotone – just like those you see in hospitals. I expose the image onto film. The image on the film is exactly the same size as the object. So doing large objects requires lateral thinking, lots of patience and lots of time.

How did you start? Yours is indeed a unique way of describing objects through pictures, why did you choose this language for you work?

I started working with x-rays to fulfill a brief for a TV show. They wanted an x-ray of a cola can. While doing the can I also x-rayed a few other things and I was hooked. It was a life changing moment for me. So the language chose me I guess.

Who are you clients, and how do you deal with them? Are you usually artistically involved in the creation of the concept for your commercial works, or are you commissioned pictures of specific objects? I am thinking of the beautiful images for the Adobe CS2 Suite, for example.

My clients are completely varied. Lately it is a fair amount of fine art commissions, but my commercial work comes from magazines, designers ad agencies and corporate clients. The usual stuff. Occasionally I get the chance to steer a concept in a direction that best suits my technique. But more often a client has seen what I do and gives me the challenge. That’s the best bit, finding a way to do it. X-Ray has many, many limitations so I have to be versatile. Adobe was a proper collaboration between Art Director and Photographer. We just clicked and the result proves that the best work comes when creative people are left alone to do what they do.

Many famous artists of the past times like Moholy-Nagy and Man Ray have already experimented in capturing transparencies and the inner composition of objects, so this process has come a long way through the history of visual languages. Did you do any other experiments with photograpy before turning to X-rays and do you regard to any famous photographer/artist as a source of inspiration?

I’m not the first person to work with x-ray. Nor will I be the last. Moholy-Nagy was a big influence on me. It is not just the revealing texture to the work that stands the test of time but also the graphic compositions. I studied photography at a basic level and tried my best to break every piece of equipment at school. I just love doing the reverse of what you should do. Leave the door open in the darkroom, open the back of the camera with the film in it, drop the unprocessed film in bleach, invert, cross process, pinhole, photogram, projection photography, hi-speed, photo finish – I’ve tried all of it.

My main source of inspiration was music. I was heavily involved in the Acid House – Summer of Love scene in the late 1980′s and that made me more open-minded and keen to experiment. Artists that inspire are Bridget Riley, Doc Egerton, Dan Graham, James Turrell and Eeadweard Muybridge. Photographers that I admire are Guido Mocafico and Tom Hunter.

Your shots reveal the dramatic beauty of natural elements like flowers, leaves, animals, but also the mechanic charm of man-made objects. Do you think the wonder of looking through a hairdryer lives in the pleasure that men find in looking at their own complex creations?

Everything man made is designed. I just reveal how well designed, or made, these things are. Or how poorly. Working with nature is always a joy as it never fails to surprise me. Man made things can be wonderfully complex and fascinating. But nature has the unexpected, organic, uncontrollable qualities that contribute to make natural forms my favourite subjects.

In the article where I discovered your art it reads that some materials or techniques are particularly appealing to designers, like letterpress, neon and X-rays of course. I found this statement funny but also quite true. Why do you think your work is so universally interesting to designers?

Because a designer likes to deconstruct and then construct in their own style. My work goes some way to aiding that. And it looks nice.

I think your personal series “Organic” and “Insects” are extremely beautiful, but also “Dolls” is fascinating in a weird and unsettling way. Which topics do you like to explore the most? What kind of personal projects would you dedicate yourself to if you didn’t also have to work?

Thanks! That means a lot to me when people connect with what I do. My dream projects are those that work on 2 levels. Firstly the results are stunningly beautiful in their own right. Secondly the finished piece has a compelling message that my x-rays have revealed. The work should move the viewer. That is when photography becomes art. The older I get the less bothered I am about ‘work’. I’m doing these projects anyway. If it is a great idea and it won’t fade from my consciousness, then I have to do it. I’m working on masks right now. And needless packaging. And genetic mutations.

Do you ever feel like you are trapped with your style? Do you think you will be an X-ray photographer forever?

I’m trapped in my own little world all right. And I really, really love it. Sure I’m a one trick pony, but that trick is all I need. I hope I’ll do this for the rest of my life.

Do you have any projects in mind for your near or far future?

I’m building my own x-ray facility.

interview by Elena Lombardi

Many thanks to Mr. Veasey for giving us the chance of this beautiful chat with a brilliant artist.

All images © Nick Veasey