2Fik - Multiple views of the world

A few years ago 2Fik was finding the winter nights in Montreal especially long. So he started to use his computer to experiment with photographs. He'd never thought photography was accessible to him before, but he discovered he could create emotions with images by reworking them into montages.

Using skills he'd learned at work, 2Fik photoshopped multiple views of himself into a single composition to create the social network that was lacking in his life. His first montage showed two brothers having an argument over a meal. 2Fik photographed himself in two different poses wearing different sets of clothing. He photoshopped the images into a convincing tableau that illustrates the sometimes conflicting relationship between siblings.

2Fik soon realized he could create montages with more than two characters, and now he makes tableaux with more complex social interactions. His montages are never completely planned in advance. 2Fik photographs himself as all the characters in a particular setting and then places the characters in their final positions once he sees what they look like in Photoshop. 

At first, the visual aspect of an image was 2Fik's focus but now he's more interested in provoking an emotional reaction in the viewer - it could be embarrassment, laughter or sadness. 2Fik's main challenge is to develop more emotionally charged images. He's disappointed when a montage fails to provoke an emotional reaction in the viewer. 

The two photographers 2Fik admires the most are Cindy Sherman and Nan Goldin. 2Fik dreams of creating montages that combine the fantasy of Sherman's images with the realism of Goldin's. 2Fik would like viewers to look at the characters in his tableaux and not think of him. 

2Fik is planning two new montages. The first will reproduce the painting Las Meninas by Velázquez. The other will reinterpret the painting The Turkish Bath by Ingres. You can see 2Fik's current montages at his web site: www.2fikornot2fik.com