J. Alan Constant - Biography

Biography

I have been a photographer for over 45 years. I grew up in Oakland CA, studied at Monterey Peninsula College, and I receive a B.A. in Art History from San Francisco State University in 1980. In the 1980’s, I did a stint as a commercial photographer in San Francisco and was published in several issues of Architectural Digest and Antiques & Fine Art. In the early 1990’s I turned solely to pursuing photography as a fine art. In 2003 at the invitation of Sharron Bliss Fine Art I created fine art limited edition prints of some recent photographs taken in Mexico. Bliss Fine Art currently offers 40 of my images. My work has been shown in galleries across the country. Corporate and private collectors enjoy my artwork, including the Marriott, Torrance, CA, Wells Fargo Bank, San Francisco and Beverly Hills, CA, Kaiser Hospital, San Francisco, CA, the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, and numerous others.

From 1998 to my retirement in 2021 I ran a successful business in the legal support field. During those years, I continued to produce fine art images. These last 4 years have been the most creative of my life, and I started to experiment with composite photography. In 2022, I initiated an Art Forum for Instagram Artists where I invite an abstract artist to speak to other artists during monthly Zoom meetings. 14 of them were recorded and posted on YouTube. I moved with my wife to Albuquerque in 2021. I have been accepted twice to the Albuquerque Art Museum’s ArtsThrive exhibition to benefit for the Museum Foundation, and had a solo show in a gallery in Mill Valley, CA. This Southwestern locale suits my temperament and feeds my creativity.

Artist Statement

I am a photographer who creates layered, painterly, digital images. I think of my initial photographs as raw visual materials that explore the inherent dynamics and tensions of the two-dimensional picture plane. I may add very little to the photograph, or I may work on it extensively. I shoot my images intuitively, and do not think why I am drawn to it or how I am going to eventually use it. I might be attracted to a combination of colors, an appealing texture, or an arrangement of elements that creates a pleasing composition. Regardless of what draws me to an image, I rely on my intuition to “make my decisions” for me.

I am currently working with composite imagery, combining traditional photographs with abstract photographs. Once I find an image to work with - it may be either representational or abstract - I look for another image that complements it. It takes a bit of trial and error to find the right combination of photographs that supplement each other. Once I have the images that I want to work with, I use Photoshop to blend them together. I work to make the blending as subtle and unobtrusive as possible. This process requires a deft touch, and I often must rework certain sections of the image to create the desired subtlety. The goal is to create an effect or mood that is greater than the sum of its parts.

My imagery deals with how different realities can exist at the same time. They can also be compared to our dream-states. There is very familiar imagery in our dreams, but they can often be abstract and very difficult to explain in words that accurately conveys the experience of the dreamer. There is a psychological or symbolic element to many of these composite images, but it’s not obvious or easy to pin down - it’s not a simple message. Rather, they create a mood and a space for imagining - they are questions, not answers. And in the words of E. E. Cummings, “Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question”.