If you look at the work of photographer and graphic artist Alberto Seveso, you might inadvertently feel you’re in the throes of a Rorschach inkblot test.
You are staring at ink for sure and, mesmerized, you can’t help but process what the eyes and brain see. Looks like lava, melted plastic or the gas explosions from an evolving star in deep space. The heart will no doubt see beauty but the gut may roil and struggle.
Seveso, a highly sought-after editorial and commercial photographer, hopes he is stirring our insides when he captures the fleeting art of ink or paint being poured into water.
“They’re intense, charged with a lot of emotion and full of passion,” said Seveso, 38, an Italian-born artist who lives and works in Bristol, England.
When he is not shooting and designing album covers, creating psychological portraits for editorial clients like ESPN The Magazine or illustrating concepts for commercial clients like Adobe, Seveso experiments with ink, paint, oil and varnish being poured into water, photographing the billowing plumes unfolding before settling.
His most recent work uses ink containing heavy metals, producing luminescent blossoms that become solid sculpture when Seveso clicks the shutter to freeze the chain reaction.
“The most interesting side of this job/passion are the unlimited outcomes in doing these kind of photographs,” Seveso told Cult of Mac. “Every shot, there is always something new … I can’t stop.”
Seveso began this vein of work around 2009 by photographing poured acrylic paints in water. Depending on the mix of colors, he will isolate the bubbling masses with a light or deep-black background. He plays with his lights until he gets the most dramatic modeling of the growing globs.
A studio assistant does the pouring. In his most recent series, called Heavy Metals, he mixes metallic inks with common acrylics and sunflower oil.
Seveso said he is a self-taught photographer who grew up inspired by the art on skateboard decks and heavy-metal album covers.
The ink portfolio grew from a fascination with high-speed photography. When you view his entire body of work, you get the sense he studies people they way he does the ink in water. Some of his fashion and portrait work are Photoshop mashups with one of his ink studies. Other photos in his portfolio follow that same thread, personalities that, like the ink, go against tides.
A good way to understand how Seveso works with ink and water can be found below in a promotional video for the Sony Xperia Z phone and tablet.
https://youtu.be/xt2kVgChHU4
