February | March 2010 - Boston Photography Focus

John Chervinsky:Studio VisitJason Landry: At what point did you decideto take your work as an engineer and scientistand turn it into art?John Chervinsky: In the 1980s, I used photographyas a way to create subject matter forpainting. But once the photography habit tookhold, I dropped painting and haven’t stopped.I began creating work in my home studio around 2001.I bought a view camera and began experimenting withengineering diagrams on chalkboards and incorporatingobjects, and here we are.John Chervinsky in his home studio, January 2010, photograph by Jason LandryTo be honest, this particular project came about during ahard time in my life. I had recently lost a very close friendand it was not too long after 9/11 happened and I had alot of big questions swirling through my mind—amongstthem our relationship to technology. We as humans are farbetter off than we have ever been. We’re better fed, we’rebetter educated, and we’re healthier, but that doesn’tmean we should not have a degree of skepticism in termsof how technology is used and it having the potential todehumanize us.JL: It is well known that perspective and visual perception playa key roll in your photographs. Since the human senses are overstimulated on a daily basis, do you feel that we have a hardtime determining what reality is anymore?JC: Yes, definitely—but has that not always been the case?We tend to form opinions or points of view based on afairly small number of inputs. The best we can do is lookat reality from many different perspectives.JL: What is the ideal formula for a productive studio session?JC: Time and quiet. All of the technical things can be controlled.JL: Are there any items or tools in your studio that are ‘a must’in order to create your images?12 > www.prcboston.org