Ed Emrich’s World Without Rules
By Ludmila Rishkova
October 27, 2010
Emerging photographer, New Yorker, attorney and self-taught surrealist artist, Ed Emrich is quite an enigma. Charismatic and somewhat shy, he carries within himself a passion that becomes apparent the moment he talks about his work. His art takes us into a world where rules of symmetry and expectation are twisted out of recognition and literally turned upside-down.
He has been a practicing attorney ever since he graduated from Hofstra law school in 1981, and yet, thanks to stubborn ambition and love of art, he has built an impressive and quickly expanding career as a photographer. Ed Emrich’s ambition: to provoke thought and bend rules, which he does through his preferred medium: reflection-based photography.
He’s not really focused on computer-achieved special effects as he’d rather work with natural elements and the transient, momentary visions encountered in reflections. In his show World Without Rules, which is restricted to shots taken in Central Park, Ed Emrich works with reflections found in bodies of water. The result: strong, expressive and interactive images that blend nature with city life.
Intrigued by his work, we asked Ed to tell us a little more about the images that most appealed to us. Although our choices may not render him full justice, they mystified us as they offered insight into a world of fantasy and surrealism that rubs sides with the everyday. The Devil, in Ed Emrich’s case, is in the details. His vision is simple, straightforward and twisted by the will of the artist’s, and the viewer’s imagination.
Ed describes Eye on the Plaza, shot in 2010, as “the most idyllic scene in New York City, in which the infinite beauty and rural quaintness of Central Park are juxtaposed to the majesty and urban architecture of the world-famous Plaza Hotel.” And, if one looks a little closer, the subtleties of the illusion become apparent. The image is turned upside-down, one of Ed’s favourite tricks in World Without Rules. The buildings thus gain a sleepy, dreamy quality. That’s where the Gapstow Bridge comes into play. While the Plaza basks in the afternoon sun, Ed points out that the bridge forms an eye where its ends meet its reflection. It thus keeps a watchful eye on the Plaza, as though to make sure that everything goes according to plan.
An interesting element, unmentioned by Ed Emrich but noticed by us, is the moment where the “real” part of the image meets with the “looking glass” wonderland. It is the moment of the gloaming as we imagine it: where two entities meet and create a gap, a doorway to a place where everything is possible. This can be observed in Ed’s The Only Way Out.
The Only Way Out, shot in 2010, is a surrealist’s maze depicting “the dizzying pace of urban life,” which Ed qualifies as “unsettling” and “disorienting.” Although at first, the image offers no visible way out of the maze, the title does. And, as such things have a way of appearing when one pays attention, at a second glance, the image does just that. It offers a way out. Just one. Ed does not go into details on that one, but he does add that it’s “not easy to flee the insanity, unless, of course, you can find the only available escape hatch.” Our guess would be that he found his escape in photography and it suits him, and us, just fine.
The next image we were attracted to is titled Meteor Strike, also shot in 2010, and carrying a bitter taste of the recent past. Although the surface of the Pond seems relatively calm, the subtext of the photo certainly isn’t. In Ed’s words, it “depicts the unfathomable moment when meteors strike the heart of the City, causing the entire skyline to tremble and become severely damaged.” The future of the skyline becomes uncertain. It may crumble. It may survive the blow. The idea behind this is, of course, directly related to the events of 9/11 and the nightmarish, dream-like quality of the days that followed.
Shot in 2008, Topsy Turvy World is artistic at its core. It is the dreamy, magical quality of the reflection juxtaposed to the clear, stark linearity of the everyday world. In it, Ed points out, “art imitates life, and life imitates art.” It is a world where duality is prevalent and neither of opposites is more real than the other. The boundaries grow thin once again.
An artist of few gadgets but a lot of depth, Ed is a great example of passion, ambition and perseverance combined. A self-taught artist, Ed Emrich published his first photography book Eyes Open: Seeing is Believing in 2009. In May of the same year, he held a show titled Mind Games at The New York Mercantile Exchange, and his work can now be viewed at Magnan Metz Gallery in Chelsea.
He is a growing artist, devoted and prolific, and has recently shot a series of photographs right here in Montreal, on which we will be doing a follow-up within the next few months.
Images mentioned in this article:
Eye on the Plaza
Meteor Strike
Topsy Turvy World
To see more of Ed's work, click on this link.