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Thomas Jackson Photographs ‘Emergent Behaviour’

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Cheese Balls by Thomas Jackson
Cheese Balls by Thomas Jackson
(Image © Thomas Jackson Photography)

How cool are Thomas Jackson’s photographs from his series titled ‘Emergent Behaviour‘?

According to Jackson, the hovering sculptures featured in this ongoing series of photographs are inspired by self-organising, ’emergent’ systems in nature such as termite mounds, swarming locusts, schooling fish and flocking birds. The images attempt to tap into the fear and fascination that these phenomena can evoke, while creating an interplay between the natural and the manufactured, the real and the imaginary.

At the same time, each image is an experiment in juxtaposition. (I just love that word!) By constructing the pieces from unexpected materials and placing them in environments where they seem least to belong, Jackson aims to tweak the margins of our “visual vocabulary”, and to invite fresh interpretations of everyday things.

What do you think…?

Plates by Thomas Jackson
Plates by Thomas Jackson
(Image © Thomas Jackson Photography)
Broken Pallet by Thomas Jackson
Broken Pallet by Thomas Jackson
(Image © Thomas Jackson Photography)
Leaves #1 by Thomas Jackson
Leaves #1 by Thomas Jackson
(Image © Thomas Jackson Photography)
Cups by Thomas Jackson
Cups by Thomas Jackson
(Image © Thomas Jackson Photography)

Thomas Jackson – clever man that he is – apparently grew up in Providence, Rhode Island. After earning a B.A. in History at The College of Wooster, he spent much of his career in New York as an editor and book reviewer for magazines. It was his particular interest in photography books that led him to pick up a camera eight years ago, first shooting Garry Winogrand-style street scenes, then landscapes, and finally the staged work he does today. He lives in Brooklyn.

If you’d like to see more of the Emergent Behaviour series, check out Thomas Jackson’s website here.

 

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Comments (19)

I love the Leaves one, they are amazing… they have to be superimposed don’t they? 🙂

It’s another ‘I have no idea how he did that‘ moment, BCD

The cups look like a fish swimming through the forest!

How cool that you see that…!!!

These are not only clever, colourful and beautiful but they get my imagination working. What fun it must have been to have arranged the cheeseballs and have them appear halfway down the tree as if a demented squirrel had just loosed them all!

You wouldn’t eat them, would you Zac?

Beautiful images and interesting juxtapositions!

Yep – gotta’ love those juxtapositions, P!

Fabulous! I was resident with a german installation artist who worked with marshmallows – stickier than cheese balls and smells a lot sweeter. Amazing how the things we take for granted can be transformed into something so beautiful. Cheers

I don’t think I could work with marshmallows, PL – I would want to eat them!

Fantastic! Love the cheeseballs around the tree trunk, wonder how many he ate in the process.

amazing – I was trying to figure out how he did it!!!!

So was I! I am none the wiser.

Cool stuff, All I can figure is Photoshop.. Great imagination great work!

I imagine you are right, Hutch. I wish it were not so (just a little, anyway!)

Lol…If it weren’t I wish I knew how to do it, even if it is PS it is masterful work not easy to meld images like that.

he is an amazing photoshop artist.

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