Mark Wyse

Mark’s Website

“Wyse began photographing his “Surfers” series in 1999 both to revisit a sport in which he actively participated throughout childhood and adolescence, and to expand his investigation of man’s relationship to nature. Wyse’s re-connection with surfing enables him to create images that are objective yet contemplative, universal yet specific. The palpable contradictions within this series result directly from Wyse’s nostalgic familiarity with surfing and his subsequent re-positioning as a seasoned outsider, looking in. 
Wyse’s previous body of work, “Landscape,” prompted the viewer’s absorption into the image through an elaborate system of intensely detailed visual cues. In contrast, “Surfers” employs a radical distortion of space, denying the viewer specificity of time and place. Positioning himself above the surf and its riders, Wyse removes the foreground and horizon line, creating a visual vertigo that disrupts the expected serenity of the seascape and forces the viewer to consciously navigate the unknown. It is through this duality of navigation and surrender, that the viewer becomes acutely aware of nature’s vast power and man’s ultimate isolation in facing the sublime.”

From kunstaspekte