All it takes to expresses you world through writing, sculpting and taking pictures is a $4 Yashica camera.
Second-year art major Alex Murdock started shooting photographs with a digital point and shoot cameras in elementary school, and continued photographing on and off until college. He said he tries not to take direct influence from other artists, but analyzing their work can keep ideas flowing. For the most part, Murdock usually carries around his Yashica T4 Super to capture any moment in a single shot, but uses his SLR, a Nikon N6006, when he knows he will be taking pictures for either school or a project.
“Sometimes setting yourself out organically helps you take better photos,” Murdock said. “Having a camera with you all of the time is an enjoyable experience. If I feel a certain way, I can take that inspiration and immediately have an image.”
Murdock said a lot of his inspiration comes from music such as artists like Jenny Hval, Perfume Genius and Radiohead. He likes to incorporate his writing along with a lot of the pictures he takes.
With writing, Murdock said the only time he forces himself is usually to go back and analyze the individual ideas that he had throughout the day to look for themes and to kind of put things together. He mentions that he finds a sense of purpose with his writing and does everything on and off except for it. Murdock said that after his ideas have been laid out, it is more analytical work rather than emotional work to write a poem.
“I write all the time like everyday,” Murdock said. “I do not structure things right then and there, but I think of things and jot things down throughout the course of the day.You can have good ‘I’m just sad’ lines, but when they are surrounded by other lines like them, they just suffocate each other.”
For sculpture, Murdock said it has always been more about the result for him. He said he gets tired of processes really quickly, but he enjoyed wax for a while. He mentions the material is warm and soft and is just weirdly soothing, but once you are putting together a larger piece, it is not a strong material and comes apart easily.
Murdock has always focused more on facial features in his sculpture. Murdock said for a long time he liked to do weird things with the head and the body as a way to express his social anxieties.
Murdock claims that one of his favorite sculptures is actually one that people did not seem to enjoy as much. Murdock said he made it out of a styrofoam wig stand that he vertically split in half. Because Murdock has tinnitus, which is a ringing sound in the ear from hearing damage, he said he pinned an ear he sculpted of wax to the neck. He said he was very stressed at the time, and whenever he gets anxious, it gets a lot worse. Murdock says the piece is focused on being imperfect.
“It is natural to be imperfect, but we don’t want to be and actively seek to alter ourselves to be more perfect, and never really works out,” Murdock said. “It’s a weird dynamic.”
Right now, Murdock said he is feeling very inspired and focused in his photo work. He said the combination of photo books he does along with his writing is very fertile ground for him.