Shoot the Breeze: Noel Rodo-Vankeulen

Noel Rodo-Vankeulen is a writer and photographer living in a suburban city in Ontario, Canada. Each picture I’ve seen from him is entirely different from the next. Noel told me he’ll use anything to “make” an image, from flatbed scanners to running inkjet paper through a printer multiple times. Here are some of my favorites of Noel’s works. -CM  

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1. Why do you take photos?
It’s the only medium that’s not defined by artists or photographers themselves (visible now more than ever) and I love that. It’s not up to you! With something like drawing, painting and even sculpture there is this lineage, this specific “Artistic” history that’s embedded in every line, blob of paint or mound of clay. Photography has always been outside of that past because everyone to some degree uses it. It’s hard to find that kind of friction anywhere else.

2. Do you carry your camera with you everywhere you go?
Yes, just my iphone.

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3. What celebrity would you like to shoot most?
Slavoj Žižek

4. What animal would you like to be, if not a human?
A Cat.

5. What is your favorite smell?
Summer air.

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6. Would you like to live forever?
Absolutely.

7. What do you think is the best photo you have ever taken to date?
Around 2008 I made a work titled “Fake Burst” which was one of the first images I created that I took seriously and really believed in. It was minimalist, abstract, figurative, even a bit stupid –  it had this energy and possibility. I’m not sure if it’s the best photograph I’ve ever taken, I mean, I hope the “next” photo is always the best, but it was a huge turning point in what I wanted to make.

8. What’s your favorite pastime?
Surfing the Great Lakes in winter.

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9. Do you like having your photo taken?
Not at all.

10. Who are your favorite photographers, currently?
Tillmans for the world, Brancusi for the studio.

 

 

http://nrodo-vankeulen.com/

http://www.oborncontemporary.com/