Phoenix is brimming with creativity. And every other year, we put the spotlight on 100 of the city's creative forces. Leading up to the release of this year's Best of Phoenix issue, we're profiling 100 more. Welcome to the 2014 edition of 100 Creatives. Up today: 44. Abigail Lynch.
For photographer Abigail Lynch, a few extra hours in a day wouldn't hurt.
"Right now I'm working a lot," Lynch says, "five nine- to 10-hour days a week, but around it I usually manage to work in a decent meal, some excavation of the taverns of the Internet, website maintenance, picture making, and a cup of coffee periodically throughout the day."
The 23-year-old Phoenician is prepping for a solo show and in the beginning phases of developing a new group of work.
See also: Phoenix Poet Allyson Boggess: 100 Creatives
Lynch has a solo exhibition opening at Eye Lounge's Capture 12 on Friday, August 1, that showcases works from her series "From Tigers to Honeybees." And she's teaming up with Mikey Estes to put on a one-day-only show at Partk Park (a pop-up art space/park at the lot just south of Matt's Big Breakfast) on August 15.
"I'm in the starting phases of a new group of work, pretty much all post-graduation images," she says. "They're quite different than pictures I've made in the past; very close up and texture heavy. I'm excited about them!"
I came to Phoenix with my mother and brother when I was still a baby. I'm practically a native.
I make art because art has an uncanny ability to communicate without words. To make you feel and think and invoke all of your senses simultaneously through looking. I make art because I can't write metaphors, but I can depict them through photography.
I'm most productive when I have too many things to do. They always seem to get done, and I exasperate myself completely, but that's the way I always complete the most tasks.
My inspiration wall is full of... my computer's desktop is currently acting as such, and it's got about 20 photographs in the editing and post-editing phases of production, hopefully to soon move to the printed stage so I may begin the sequencing process.
I've learned most from my BFA degree in photography from ASU. The faculty, adjunct staff and my peers together taught me a great deal in my four years there, honestly more than I think I know how to put into words. Mike Lundgren was my mentor for the greater part of my time there and I certainly feel I owe a lot to him in my understanding of photography. He instilled a desire to continue understanding it. It's not something that you can just define, you have to experience it, be frustrated by your art, go through plateaus of nothingness and then you come to an integral realization that allows you to move forward.
Good work should always engage you. It should make you want to stand still, analyzing every centimeter of the work, and make you want to understand it.
The Phoenix creative scene could use more discourse. A space, virtual or physical, for informed artists to create an evolving dialogue about art and meaning.
See the 2014 edition of 100 Creatives:
100. Bill Dambrova 99. Niki Blaker 98. Jeff Slim 97. Beth May 96. Doug Bell 95. Daniel Langhans 94. Nanibaa Beck 93. Nicole Royse 92. Ib Andersen 91. Casandra Hernandez 90. Chris Reed 89. Shelby Maticic 88. Olivia Timmons 87. Courtney Price 86. Travis Mills 85. Catrina Kahler 84. Angel Castro 83. Cole Reed 82. Lisa Albinger 81. Larry Madrigal 80. Julieta Felix 79. Lauren Strohacker 78. Levi Christiansen 77. Thomas Porter 76. Carrie Leigh Hobson 75. Cody Carpenter 74. Jon Jenkins 73. Aurelie Flores 72. Michelle Ponce 71. Devin Fleenor 70. Noelle Martinez 69. Bucky Miller 68. Liliana Gomez 67. Jake Friedman 66. Clarita Lulić 65. Randy Murray 64. Mo Neuharth 63. Jeremy Hamman 62. La Muñeca 61. Kevin Goldman 60. Emily Costello 59. Kerstin Dale 58. Vara Ayanna 57. Nathaniel Lewis 56. Ruben Gonzales 55. Lisa Poje 54. Bobby Zokaites 53. Frances Smith Cohen 52. Julie Rada 51. David Miller 50. Xanthia Walker 49. Kyllan Maney 48. Cary Truelick 47. Constance McBride 46. James D. Porter 45. Allyson Boggess
