The Désiré project began with John archiving older photographic images he had taken over the past 17 years. As he was reviewing all of these photographs, it occurred to him that some of the images that he had previously decided not to use, either due to accidental camera shake or double exposure, had very strong compositional value to them. Coincidentally, at the same time that he was going through his old photographs, he began to research historical Albumen printing process (invented in 1850 by Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard) for possible use in printing of his new still life image project. The still life photographs all include antique tin type portraits, and researching alternative and longstanding methods of printing seemed fitting. Then the idea came to him to produce a new series of work influenced by the look and feel of the old photographic albumen process but using the negatives he had previously not used. Here is the effort of several months of work.
John Santerineross is an American photographer with a background in ceramics and painting. He is considered to be a “neo-symbolist”, an artist that continues or reinterprets the 19th century art movement Symbolism. Like its predecessor, neo-symbolism focuses on the spiritual, the subconscious, and dreams.
He is an artist who does not classify or categorize himself. He prefers to let the viewer decide and define. John never elucidates his imagery for fear of limiting viewers’ personal interpretation.
He has been called everything from” the world leading Neo-symbolist photographer and master of the photo macabre” by PROFIFOTO, Germanys leading photography magazine to an “artistic assassin who wants to artistically assassinate Christianity, especially Catholicism” in Bill Donohue’s newest book .
Born in 1955 in New York City, he lived most of this life in the north east and now works out of Athens, Georgia. He is known for his dark, erotic images and has been shown both nationally and internationally, from the Seattle Erotic Arts Festival to the Galleria de-Arte Moderna Contemporanea in Bondeno, Italy. His largest New York City show took place at KFMK Gallery in June 2006 showing 22 of his 28” x 32” photographic images. In 2010 he showed at Le Cabinet des Curieux in Paris, France and in Mondo Bizzarro Gallery in Rome Italy. John’s last international solo exhibition was at Jinbochogarou Gallery in Tokyo, Japan featuring 24 of his images, making it his largest solo exhibition to date.
Throughout John’s artistic career, his refusal to be limited by any one medium has lead him to master multiple artistic disciplines; he has been a ceramist, sculptor, painter, and mixed media artist. He has recently delved into the world of moving images and has already directed several short art films. Currently, Santerineross is in the preproduction phase of an adaptation of an avante-garde short story entitled “Ningyoushi”.
John Santerineross
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