تود باكستر
ТОДД БАКСТЕР

owl scouts

source: goodgarbs
Artist Todd Baxter is a unique visionary who has the capability to bend the unrealistic and connect it to what is very realistic. This ability is what gives the surreal Chicago based photographer a stand out collection of artwork. After years of studying photography, painting, drawing, and sculpture at the University of New Mexico, Baxter began to teach art in his hometown of Albuquerque. Soon he receives a recruiting call that has him traveling to Muscat, Omen where he continued to teach and opened the doors for him to explore the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Soon after Todd began to do freelancing art in Chicago for many different advertising agencies and eventually becoming a full time art director for Cramer Krasselt. Aside his commercial offering, Baxter is completing a large-scale photography project that we are previewing called “Owl Scouts”, which is a tale of the misadventures of two young children.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
source: biosmonthly
攝影藝術家 Todd Baxter 似乎與上述兩位超現實風格的藝術家有許多共通之處。他對自己作品的評論即為：「Real-but-not-real.」。Todd 常被視為畫家而不是攝影師，他也認為自己只是剛好選擇了相機作為創作媒介，而他經常使用 photoshop 來後製他的攝影成果。
在他的作品中，我們看不見寫實世界的捕捉，從油畫開始進行藝術創作的他早已習慣以作畫的方式去構圖，畫面中的人物也都是請來的演員，而攝影主題通常是他腦中突然出現的一個具故事性的場景。
不過其對細節的處理卻又使作品看起來極為真實，例如他曾把在 ebay 網站上買來的老鼠頭骨放在畫面一角，期待觀者的發現 。對作品要求甚高的 Todd 甚至為了作品《Owl Scouts》系列在工作室搭建了一個貓頭鷹地道的剖面以求魔幻中的寫實。這樣的高標準也使得他的作品禁得起大圖輸出與反覆觀賞。
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
source: morbidofest
Imagina que la perfección formal del cineasta Wes Anderson se combina con el delirio surrealista del pintor Salvador Dalí… en una serie de fotografías.
Todd Baxter es un fotógrafo norteamericano que ha logrado condensar el talento de estos dos maestros del cine y la pintura, para contar historias que van de lo tierno a lo grotesco. Sus imágenes son una combinación de distintos elementos reales, manipulados digitalmente para provocar en el espectador una experiencia onírica que, en algunos momentos, podría rayar con el horror.