Jim Kazanjian’s surreal landscapes offer phantasmagoric visions of a where-is-this world, defined by impossibly complex architecture and M.C.Escher-esque black-and-white graphics. Inspired by the imaginary realms of cult author H.P. Lovecraft – whose wild, cosmic short stories set the mold for much of the 20th century’s best science fiction – Kazanjian’s aim is to redress the “misunderstanding that photography has a kind of built-in objectivity”. It is our trust in photography’s inherent connection with naturalism, then, that makes the deliberate verisimilitude of his works so intriguingly disorienting. Since receiving his MFA from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, in 1992, he has worked as a commercial CGI artist in TV and game production, and it shows in his compositions, which he creates by sifting through thousands of images before finding a few dozen that can be piled together to, in his words, “create something new.”
Oakland, CA artist
Editor, Beautiful Bizarre magazine
Director, La Luz de Jesus Gallery
Somerville, MA artist
Art advisor
Melbourne, FL artist
Co-founder/Curator, Arch Enemy Arts
Minneapolis, MN artist
