Greg Carrick

What part of the process of creating art do you like best?
I enjoy the challenge of expressing a large idea in one picture, allowing people to see through their own experiences of life what that image means to them. It transforms me from being a photographer, to being an 'image architect'.
What is your working environment like?
I work with a collection of artists and designers, bouncing ideas and concepts around.
What kind of (formal & informal) art training have you had?
Informal on the job training through years of designing publications. Heading up the design team for a new Melbourne newspaper, and running a local newspaper in my town for over 5 years.
How has your art training affected the kind of art you produce?
Being able to show the mundane through new perspectives to open it up to interpretative discoveries in the viewers minds is very rewarding. When the viewer gets something out of my images, it means I have succeeded in relating to their life.
Name some important influences and inspirations in your art career.
Art that has impact must reach into peoples emotions, so my own journeys through depression, despair, love and caring have brought that emotive impact into the images.
What has been the most difficult thing you have encountered in your work?
It has been difficult but rewarding to open my own life story through images to connect with people who have also had troubled journeys.
Have there been major turning points in your art career?
Deciding to be open and honest about the hard times in life has freed me to connect with real issues people have to face. My series on Depression brought out a lot of discussions.
What has been the highlight of your art career?
Winning the 'Best nature image' category at the San Remo arts fair.
Artist comment about “The Mask”
‘The Mask’ depicts the human condition of hiding our true state behind a weaving of fact and fiction, denying even to ourselves the hurts and fractures in our lives. The artwork is two photographs physically woven together.