My series In Pursuit of Magic is named after a piece of graffiti I saw while travelling through Death Valley, California.
It was a spray painted stencil on the back of a tourist information sign in the middle of a vast desert flanked by snow covered peaks. I may have missed it were it not for the black crow perched atop the sign.
At first I was dismissive as I read the slogan which seemed like the sort of thing you might find as a bumper sticker on a Combi Van and then, much to my surprise, it started to resonate with me. The idea of being in pursuit of magic was actually the reason I was there in the first place and despite never having uttered the phrase before I could see it is as something that applied to my life in general and in particular to my photographic practice.
This series presents some of the magical moments I experienced while travelling through California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah in the winter of 2017.
In Pursuit of Magic: Views (1-7)
In Pursuit of Magic: Views (1-7) 430 x 535mm Framed.
Pigment prints on archival cotton rag paper.
Limited edition prints available framed or unmounted. Please contact ricky@rickylloyd.com for more information.
In Pursuit of Magic: Scenes (1-27)
In Pursuit of Magic: Scenes (1-27) 420 x 297 mm Unframed.
Pigment prints on archival cotton rag paper.
Limited edition prints available framed or unmounted. Please contact ricky@rickylloyd.com for more information.
In Pursuit of Magic: Moments (1-3)
In Pursuit of Magic: Moments (1-3) 430 x 535mm Framed.
Pigment prints on archival cotton rag paper.
Limited edition prints available framed or unmounted. Please contact ricky@rickylloyd.com for more information.
Magical Moments: Ricky Lloyd’s In Pursuit of Magic
By Grace Blakeley-Carroll
The world is fully of magical things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper. — William Butler Yeats
I have always loved the word magic. For some, including poet William Butler Yeats, magic is associated with the supernatural. Others consider magic a reminder of the existence of things that are awesome, inexplicable and enchanting. Visual art has the potential to communicate this ‘magic’ in ways that often transcend original artistic intentions.
For Canberra-based photographer Ricky Lloyd, his surroundings possess its own kind of magic. His latest series, In Pursuit of Magic, is being exhibited at PhotoAccess’ Huw Davies Gallery as a part of the Australian National University School of Art and Design’s Emerging Arts Support Scheme. The exhibition is his first solo show and represents the culmination of his Master of Visual Arts degree.
While talking with Lloyd I was struck by his humility and passion for photography. He does not speak about himself as an artist, and the names of famous photographers do not rattle off his tongue. For him being a photographer is a vocation, not simply a profession; he possesses an endless drive to document his worldview. While, as he explains, he ‘does not live behind the camera’, through the lens of his digital SLR camera Lloyd is able to record and share his experiences.
In Pursuit of Magic consists of a series of colour photographs Lloyd took during a road trip through the American states of California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah earlier in the year. He visited areas that inspired some of the most renowned landscape photographers of the twentieth century, including Ansel Adams. The exhibition has three parts: In Pursuit of Magic: Scenes (1–27) which are displayed in a grid-like manner; “In Pursuit of Magic: Views (1–7), consisting of framed prints of window shots; and a group of smaller works titled In Pursuit of Magic: Moments (1–3).
Despite covering some iconic sites—such as the Grand Canyon—Lloyd avoids landscape and travel photography clichés by choosing intriguing compositions that seem like metaphors about living among the built and natural environments. This is seen in the images in the Views section that suggest the experience of being a tourist and looking onto another society. Elsewhere in the Scenes area, an image shows graffiti on the back of a tourist information sign in the middle of Death Valley, California that inspired the title of the show. The phrase ‘In pursuit of magic’ seems ironic at first. After pausing on this image I realise that it is an invitation to find the magic that exists in the most unlikely of places.
The formal qualities of the works enhance the intrigue of the series. Lloyd switches between close-up details of the built environment and wider shots of the natural landscape. This conveys intimacy and a sense of the sublime, and echoes the fact that magic exists in many forms and that it is for the viewer to look more deeply into each image in order to see the beauty therein. The absence of people brings a meditative atmosphere to the series and allows for a multitude of interpretations.
Like many humble artists, Lloyd’s goal is simple. He hopes to ‘encourage people to engage a bit more in their environment’. For me this aim is the true magic of this exhibition. I experience it in the crisp, intriguing photographs of places I have never visited, yet appear eerily familiar and elusive all at once.
— Grace Blakeley-Carroll is an emerging art historian, writer and curator.