Mercury Cowboys – Nick Veasey
The unconventional approach to photography through X-ray technology.
Photography is an art form with a prolific history. It’s safe to say that photography would not be where it is today without innovators who push the boundaries to express their creativity and inspire others. Enter Nick Veasey, a British photographer and pioneer in the photography field. Veasey combines the lost art form of film photography with the unconventional tactic of utilizing X-ray technology as a form of creative expression.
Veasey’s work captures everyday items and settings on a deeper level, revealing their beauty within—with intricate mechanics from cars and the human skeleton, for example– Veasey unveils complexities behind movements and objects that we often categorize as mundane or straightforward.
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Land Rover After Surf
“We all know we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover,” Veasey remarks. “Beauty is more than skin deep. By revealing the inside, the quintessential element of my art, speculates on what the manufactured and natural worlds consist of.”
Photography has always been a passion for Veasey. As a self-taught photographer, experimentation laid the foundation for his career. “I’m a lover of photography, particularly analog experimental photography, and I would go and see exhibitions and read books on the different processes. However, I never studied art or photography, so there was some pushback as I tried to establish myself as an artist. What did it was the quality of the work, not my contacts or intellect. I like to let the pictures do the talking,” he explains.
Boho Chic
Utilizing X-ray machinery more potent than what you would find within a hospital or airport, Veasey captures his images using X-ray film. Aware of the health concerns and speculations associated with X-rays and radiation, Veasey does not use human subjects.
“Every X-ray I take has to be risk-assessed as the equipment emits radiation,” Veasey says. “My studio is a two-foot-thick concrete room that traps the radiation inside.”
While the outcome of Veasey’s work is striking and beautiful, it comes with many challenges. One is that because the images are shot using film, the images cannot be enlarged or reduced, so larger projects require meticulously connecting each film sheet to reveal the finalized picture. Veasey refers to this process as “solving a jigsaw puzzle.”
X-Ray is democratic, it shows things for what they are truly made of.
Aware of the public’s speculations about his work and methods of practice due to the association X-rays have with cancer, Veasey believes there is beauty within his art and the process it takes to create it, and he hopes it brings joy to those who see it.
“I just hope that my work helps people to see beauty in the everyday,” Veasey remarks. “We are all mostly too busy to stop and look, but if you can, you will discover beautiful things, often little things, everyday things, not just the view from the top of the mountain. I try to look at the world in another way.”
ICONIC vintage pieces of design and pop culture inspire his current projects. Influenced by films, books and music, Veasey brings back to life the ambiance of the 70s and 80s reminiscent of the rebellious youth of that time.
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The combination of simplicity and complexity within one image is hard to accomplish. The interpretation of Veasey’s work is easy to understand, yet the photos reveal the complexity of objects that some consider simple. The dance between the two concepts creates a beautiful experience for the viewer.
Rat Pack
“X-Ray is democratic,” Veasey says. “It shows things for what they are truly made of. By removing the surface and concentrating on the inner workings, my work reveals how my subject came to exist, whether designed by man or nature. My work is straightforward. I like that. You don’t need an art history degree to understand it. It’s an X-ray, and you can see inside. Simple can be effective.”
Say Hello Wave Goodbye
Veasey’s X-ray photography will be showcased at the Art Angels Gallery in Los Angeles in May. “I have been with Art Angels from the very start,” Veasey says. “Ten years later, they are doing great, expanding frequently and showing quality art. They have a great eye for this, and their curation is impressive. They make me look good, so I am excited to be showing in LA.”
X-ray photography demonstrates a different approach to capturing life and allows people to see art through a deeper lens.
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