A Few Words About Encounters by Patrick Stull

A Few Words About Encounters

By Patrick Stull

Rarely does one have the opportunity to see imagery coupled with prose that elevate the visual and cerebral experience. Encounters is that, a collection of imagery created and compiled over the last 15 years to inspire and challenge the observer while always empowering the subject. A portion of the portfolio presents something more than a photographic image. Here the imagery is developed into contemplative art pieces of the surreal genre, where the viewer is transported into the depths of their own psyche challenging them to see something new.

Another element in this body of work reflects on the power of art and its ability to expedite connections with something primal, subliminal, about who and what we are as humans. I attempt to communicate using multiple visual and philosophical dimensions. Photographers capture the moment, hoping you will see what they see. Encounters operates in multiple disciplines: the realm of the surreal, blatant reality and the abstract. I have designed and created the postures and elements in the imagery to exemplify my views of women, the power and erotic nature of the human body, society and, most of all, my love for art.

In Encounters, you will encounter 232 pages of fine art prints that include real and unique images of the human body, original drawings and photographic art. All of this is orchestrated to express and offer you a unique artistic and humanistic experience. Seldom does one have an opportunity to experience this kind of composition. I wish you an exciting and unique experience.

Encounters is dedicated to:

To the human body, a magnificent creation from the once singularity and the bowels of the earth.

To those that seek, through their actions, a more humane and just world.

To those that exercise restraint in the face of violence.

To those that cry out when the innocent creature is cruelly butchered for our vanity and entertainment.

To those that refuse to stay quiet when women and children are the recipients of violence.

American artist Patrick Stull has spent the last eighteen years mostly creating imagery about the lives of women. He searches for what lies beneath the surface of his subjects, empowering each one he encounters. He has recently ventured into the realm of surrealism, creating powerful imagery that reflects on our humanity while dealing with the meaning and power of art.

Stull say's, "My work has allowed me to venture past the camera into the realm of a humanist, an artistic life, delving into the intellectual, a more cerebral life experience, creating what I call 'connectivism.'" 

His ongoing work is based in large-scale digital photography accompanied by sculpture/body casts, composition art, painting, poetry/prose and drawings.  His art is then integrated, collectively, into exhibitions to provide the viewer a once in a lifetime experience. The presentation of the work is delivered to the viewer in a unique and emotionally powerful way.

Stull, 71, a self-taught artist, works in many artistic disciplines. Educated at San Diego State University with degrees in psychology, economics and philosophy during the 1960’s, amidst the backdrop of the counter-culture revolution and the Viet Nam War, where his social consciousness and political views were shaped. Stull emerged from a Catholic Irish/German family, one of five children where work, discipline and religion took precedence over emotional expressions of the self – a different kind of loving environment. Being a husband of thirty-plus years and father to two has taught him the power of kindness, love and commitment. 

His latest book is the fine art photography book, Encounters.

Visit his website at www.patrickstull.com.

With photography at its base, Stull offers a nuanced explication of his encounters to allow the viewer an opportunity to form a relationship with his art. While looking within ourselves, exploring our own feelings, he hopes that he will inspire greater humaneness in response to his art.

ENCOUNTERS is the second in a series of six large-format books in which artist, photographer and author, Patrick Stull explores a wide range of experiences. Using light and the physical body, the written word and his artistry he creates imagery that examines aspects of the lives of women.

Compiled over the last 18 years, the images in ENCOUNTERS, Stull says, are meant to “inspire and challenge the observer while always empowering the subject.”

Stull brings a powerful sense of the surreal and the spiritual to his work as he plots a course along the many paths of the human experience. His imagery runs from the ghostly and ephemeral to the flowing and fiery.

As much as he concentrates on the human form, Stull never forgets to focus on the humanity of his subjects. His choice of the coffee-table style book format draws the viewer into an experience both intimate and universal.

Stull’s first book in his series, titled EVOLVE, was published in 2006. A third book, titled HIDDEN DIMENSIONS, is completed and awaiting publication. Future titles in the series include DHARMA, BEING DIFFERENT, and YOGA, A HEALING MOMENT.

Stull hopes that his readers come away from the book with “a love for art and a respect for the female who gives us life and challenges us to be better human beings.

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