Enric Mammen · About My Work
I'm interested in how a picture is created.
I work with photography, paint, paper, and sculptural surfaces. Most of my work is abstract. What unites these pieces is not so much a specific material as the way I work with it.
Photography was my first love. That’s still true today. For me, photography isn’t just about the camera: I also work with pinhole cameras and techniques in which light strikes light-sensitive material directly. The way an image is created is, for me, part of the image itself.
In chemical processes, the conditions under which I work make a difference. I can change them—but I can only do so in a targeted way if I understand what’s happening. It’s similar with paint, paper, or clay. I engage with the material, learn its properties, and decide what to do with it.
I don’t have a finished image in mind. A layer transforms the surface. An opening reveals something. Then I have to look at it anew: What remains, where do I intervene, what do I remove? My decisions change the work, and the work changes my next decisions.
Sometimes it's pretty clear that something still needs to happen.
It feels as if the image is calling for a change. Of course, it doesn't decide that on its own. I'm the one who does that. But I don't do it independently of what's already there. For me, this back-and-forth is part of the work.
I don't need a grand message that's already set in stone before I take the first step. What interests me first and foremost is the image. I don't need to tell you what to see in it.
About My Body of Work