S.A: Hi David, first of all, we would like know more about you. Tell us who is David Lorenz Winston, tell us something about your life and your childhood in your country
D.L.W: I often describe myself as silly, sensitive and serious. I particularly like the silly and more playful parts. The older I get, the more they surface. I have always been sensitive, which has been a double edge sword since it has allowed me the privilege of seeing the world more clearly than most, but has also left me with a feeling of being more vulnerable. I am serious about making productive use of my time. I get restless and bored easily, but use these states to urge myself on to experiment and create new work.
I grew up in an artistic family in the suburbs of Philadelphia. My mother taught dance, was a writer, a painter and enjoyed playing the piano. My father loved photography. His brother was a part time painter. Appreciating and creating art started at a young age. At 8 I began playing the piano and also got my first camera. I went to a painting class with my Mother as well. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I was quickly becoming saturated in the arts and they resonated with me well.

S.A: What is art for you?
D.L.W: Art is what keeps me interested in life. It helps me to feel alive. It allows me to feel at cause. It gives me something to look forward to. Its my main connection to the world.

S.A: Could you share some of your philosophy about art and artistic creation?
D.L.W: To me, the most important thing is simply making the time to create work on a regular basis. I don’t wait for passion to arise, but in the process of creating new work, it often arises spontaneiously. My joy and desire is simply to do it.

S.A: Have you always been interested in arts? When did you discover that art would be an important part of your life?
D.L.W: Yes. As a young boy I admired artists and dreamt of being an artist. The arts were valued in my family. My Mother used to take me to a weekly painting class in Philadelphia. My father was an amateulr photographer and collaborated with my Mother who in addition to painting was a writer.
As an 8 year old I was given a Kodak Brownie Camera. My neighbors had just gotten a few chicks and I lay down to photograph them on the level of the chicks. I had an instinctive sense to fill the picture frame and to get in close. When the photographs came back, they were all blurry. I had been too close to my subjects.


S.A: How did you get started in the art world?
D.L.W: One day at the end of my sophomore year at Penn State University, I sat down with a book on drawing. I followed one of the lessons and was totally excited about what I had created. It was the best I had felt after two years in college. At that moment, I decided to change my major from Latin American Studies and Psychology to Art. It was one of the wisest decisions I’ve made.
One of my first teachers in the art department at Penn State, Bill Hanson, immediately encouraged me and made me feel as though I had talent. I later took another course with Bill, which was photography. That was the beginning.

S.A: Your artworks on meseon are photographs, Why do you choose photograph as a means of expression?
D.L.W: I’ve always had a restless nature. I felt my photographic sensibility was much further along than my ability to paint. I felt it would take a good while before I learned painting technique. I also was drawn to the idea of moving about, which photography seemed to fulfill for me better than any art form.

S.A: What concept would you like to show to your viewers? What would you like say with your artworks?
D.L.W: For me, photography is about relationship. At times the relationship is between me and my subject(s), but more often its between subjects, animate or inanimate within the picture frame. To emphasize relationship I like to juxtapose, contrast, uncover humor expose irony and create mystery. Often these elements weave together. Sometimes relationship is about alienation, a sense of isolation in relation to self or surroundings. Ultimately, my photographs reveal a lot more about how I perceive the world than the subjects they depict.
Without relationship a photograph remains in a sense, two dimensional. With relationship there is always the possibility of transformation, creating more than the sum of the parts.

S.A: How has society influenced your art? What are the social implications of your art?
D.L.W: Often my work is a commentary on social construct. I like to juxtapose apparently unrelated subjects in a manner that often exposes and mocks the way things are. I enjoy showing people in particularly unguarded moments, when they are not protected by any roles.


S.A: Discuss one of your pieces. What were you thinking when you created it?
D.L.W: "Graduation Rite" was photographed at the The Swann Memorial Fountain in Philadelphia’s Logan Circle. The Fountain was sculpted by Alexander Stirling Calder and is a well known landmark. Every June, the graduating class of nearby Hallahan High School comes to the Fountain to get soaked, a sort of rite of passage. I love to photograph events in which the participants are so involved that they are hardly aware of anything, but the event itself and this is definitely one such event and an unusual one as well. While photographing, I looked for unguarded moments when the girls were totally being themselves. I also visually scanned for juxtapositions. I wanted to create size differences, with figures in the foreground, midground and background. I was also looking for natural ways that the girls were relating to each other and for real moments, the kind of moments that go deeper than the facades most of like to show the world. The next step was in the computer. I desaturated the colors and added shades of brown by duplicating the color layer in Photoshop, then desaturating the top layer. The next step was to colorize the desaturated layer with a shade of sepia and finally blending the sepia layer with the color layer below using the blending tool, “hue.” Sometimes this works well as it did in this image. After working in Photoshop, I used “Painter” to paint some of the water and to give it a somewhat dreamy feel.

S.A: What was your most important exhibition? Could you share that experience?
D.L.W: In 1981 I was offered a one person show in The John Wanamaker Fine Art Gallery In Philadelphia. It was my first one person show and gave me a lot of confidence. It made me feel visible in a much larger context.

S.A: What are the most important artist that are influence in your life and your works? why?
D.L.W: I was heavily influenced by fine art photographer, George Krause, who I studied with after graduating from Penn State University. I was moved by his revealing images of people and as a result I began emulating his style.
I also admire the work of Henri Cartier Bresson. His ability to capture the decisive moment and to orchestrate disparate people and elements into graphic masterpieces was exquisite.


S.A: Could you talk about the procedures that you use in your artworks? Preparation, development and finishing
D.L.W: For me the main element is recognizing what is before me. I am always looking for more than subject matter alone. Design is very important to me as is contrast, juxtaposition, relationship, design and movement. Once the photograph is taken, I bring it into Photoshop and Lightroom and either make minor adjustments to enliven the image or begin to experiment, giving myself free reign to go in whatever direction I am led. I print with an Epson Pro Stylus 7600 with Ultrachrome inks. My paper is Entrada Fine Art.

S.A: What do you feel when you are finished a artwork?
D.L.W: Nourished and enlivened, feeling I’ve done something that is worthwhile. I’m also spurred to continue with new works.

S.A: Do you have some challenge or goal which you are pursuing?
D.L.W: I have two weekly blogs, so am constantly looking for new work to post. They help to get me out to create new work on a regular basis.

S.A: Some quick questions:
Tell us an artist: Because there is nothing more rewarding.
Tell us a city: Buenos Aires because it pulsates and i’ve never been there.
Tell us a dream: Finding eye candy wherever I go


S.A: Could you tell us something about you are currently working?
D.L.W: My main projects are my blogs, The Winston Weekly and Winston Unleashed. In addition, I’m working on three collaborative projects with friends, one on The Amish in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania one on the other on oral histories of riverkeepers in the United States for which I’m photographing riverkeepers and their environments. I am also planning workshops for The Oregon Coast and The Crater Lake region.

S.A: For finish tell us, why do you create art?
D.L.W: I create art because it enlivens me, brings me more into the moment, teaches me about myself, and helps me to better understand the interconnectedness of all things.

Thanks a lot for your time David. Has been a pleasure know more about you and your work.