Philip
Ringler

Element.element

Element.element

Philip Ringler and James Saxon (Relaxing Realism)

2014/2015

The four elements—Earth, Air, Fire, Water—are both a map of an emotional landscape, and the materials for constructing a modified elemental language. The series is an exploration of using controlled theatrical spectacles contained in a still image to examine symbols in various didactic combinations. The element named first in the title dominates the other. The domination is of varying degrees of totality. While some images are wry, or absurd, in others the emotional tone of the image is dark, as earth subsides to water, or fire blasts the surface of ice.

After the initial sketches were made, James and Philip harvested props and materials from swap meets, yard sales, craigslist, and the side of the road. James, adept in multiple technical disciplines including electronics, welding, carpentry, programming, and chemistry, set about designing and constructing various timing devices and automatic triggers. They conducted multiple chemistry and physics experiments in order to get perfect results. The set design, photography and lighting were all a fluid, fun collaborative process.