Erin: What are you curious about?
Tiffany: Everything. I am an observer and my brain lights up when I see relationships and connections between things and people. I am also extremely curious about the future. I believe all things have the right to exist and do so for a reason which is why I wish I could have my consciousness uploaded into AI several hundred years from now.
John: The artistic process. Not just that of other artists, but my own as well. My process has evolved over the years and modifies according to the medium in which I’m working. The process for one medium can be influenced by the process from another. For example, this set of images from Las Vegas feels very painterly and gestural. I also really enjoy seeing and learning how other artists get from beginning to end with a particular piece or body of work. I could just sit and watch for hours.
Erin: Describe your art and describe your process. While you work together as commercial photographers you both have other avenues of exploration.
Tiffany: I often work in collage and from that process I have discovered that I have a method and approach in all of my various disciplines which is best described as stream of consciousness.
John: As I mentioned before, my process is largely informed by the medium I’m working in (ie. painting, photography digital work, video, graphics, etc). What they share is a sense of openness and a reluctance to over-plan. I like to be surprised by where the process takes me.
Erin: You met while studying for your undergraduate degree in photography. How did you start working together as a team?
Tiffany & John: It happened while John was at Pratt for his MFA and Tiffany was assisting photographers and building her portfolio. Tiffany was looking to add more artistry to her images and asked John if he wanted to collaborate and from that moment we realized that our collaboration opened the door to creating something unique.
Erin: This new Vegas series captures the bright lights and hustle of a sleepless city in such a meditative way. Can you tell us about how and why you created this body of work?
Tiffany: Like most things it happened organically. John and I were in Vegas for a commercial shoot and after a long shoot day, we came back to our hotel room to relax. We started shooting the landscape out of our glass enclosed hotel room and showed each other what we found interesting. John took a shot with a slow shutter speed and some body movement in it and because of the flicker rate produced by fluorescent lights in Vegas we quickly realized what a unique situation this was and continued to experiment.
Erin: Your commercial work includes portraiture and fashion photography. What was your quintessential shot (or most fun experience you’ve had on set)?
TIffany & John: There has not been one that stands out from the others and I think that is partially what drives us to continue. We do enjoy any opportunity to collaborate with a client that is working with you specifically because they trust your creative aesthetic.
Erin: Your additional skills include graphic design, production, video and technology (dabbling in cryptocurrency art). How do you continue to develop these skills and how do they influence your current work?
Tiffany & John: The market tends to define the directions we have taken with developing skills but our curiosity is what moves us forward with understanding technology and what we can create with it.
Erin: John, you received your Master’s Degree in painting. Can you tell me about your lightbox painted series and share a few images of your work?
John: Yes, I was in the MFA program at Pratt Institute from 1999-2001 studying painting. Then, I was working mostly in abstraction. Over the years, however, my interests have broadened to include more representational and more mixed media pursuits. The lightboxes that you had mentioned came about as a way to integrate my painting practices with my personal photography to create a physical living object.
Erin: You've been artists working in Brooklyn for the last few decades. How has your experience of the art scene changed.
Tiffany & John: We’ve been living in the East Williamsburg/ Bushwick area for 17 years and have been a part of the art community since our arrival. The richness of this creative community is a great source of inspiration and artistic drive.
Erin: What is the most important thing you learned and from whom?
Tiffany: When I am feeling stressed John likes to remind me to “Relax, this is not brain surgery “ and I remind myself of that now during any stressful moment.
John: It’s ok to veer off course to ultimately solve the problem. Be visually flexible. This was learned and is still being learned purely through experience and experimentation.
Erin: If each of you had a superpower what would it be?
Tiffany: The power to fly through space and time .
John: The ability to perfectly calm the body as well as the mind. That state, to me, is the most conducive to having a clear path to process.
Thanks Tiffany and John!
