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Fantasty meets photography

Coast Collective spreading the message for digital art show set for May
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Metchosin artist Doug Gilbert is helping organize a digital art show at the Coast Collective in May.

Armed with a camera and a computer, Metchosin artist Doug Gilbert transforms reality into a fantasy world.

“It’s photo-based art,” he said. “Often there is more than one photograph collaged together.”

He photographs models in his home studio and then often heads outdoors for more photos to incorporate into a piece.

Once the photos are taken he manipulates them with Photoshop until the piece is revealed.

“I take a lot of photos in Metchosin,” said the artist, citing the Galloping Goose Trail and areas around Pearson College as his favourite spots.

He started this form of art about 12 years ago, when technology was not nearly as advanced.

“I paid $1,000 for a three megapixel camera back then,” Gilbert said with a chuckle. He now shoots with a 22-megapixel camera.

The more advanced camera allows him to offer larger print sizes. Before, if he wanted to make a large print he would shoot several images of a scene, then stitch them together on the computer.

When he first began, he was snubbed for making high-end art on a digital camera using computer software, he said. Now, this combination of skills is getting more appreciation in the art community.

“It’s still a new art form,” Gilbert said. “It’s completely up to the imagination.”

For every piece he creates, he prints off a limited edition of five.

“It’s so you don’t go to your friend’s house and find the same picture on their wall.”

Gilbert and three other artists are putting together a digital art show for the Coast Collective gallery in May. They are currently seeking submissions from other artists working in the medium.

 

For more information go to distinctlydigital.ca