INTERVU: Sal Forgione

Sal Forgione is a Design and Photography student who also experiments with mixed media collages.

from Pinhole Series

Ethan Sherman: How do you define the difference between commercial art and fine art?

Sal Forgione: I feel that commercial art, unlike fine art, almost always has a set of parameters and a sort of defined destiny, but that does not mean that there has to be a set of rules to follow.  I do find it to be a bit more difficult working with commercial art and art for informational purposes, but I always try and find a unique and interesting solution to these problems.  As for fine art, I believe that design and photography, if executed to near perfection, can be a fine art practice.  The ideas of fine art may not translate for some [people] right away through painting, sculpture, and drawing, but there is a way to define fine art. Some consider fine art as not design practices, but I would say that fine art, as opposed to commercial art, holds true the very own art’s intent.

ES: Design work often has a predetermined message, have you ever found it to be difficult working within a client's guidelines?

SF: Again, working with a predetermined message does have its flaws, but I try to make whatever I am doing interesting and make the message as clear as possible through my work.  It is difficult when the message that needs to be conveyed is rather broad, or quite frankly, idiotic or stupid, but again, referring back to design principles and the idea of the glass vase; what is more important? The actual content or the glass holding it. If you have a glass vase you can see the content and it does not compete with the vase, when you have an ornate gold or metallic vase to hold the contents the ideology is shifted from a focus on the vase rather than the contents. I use this principle in all of my design.

ES: How do you decide upon subject material for your photography?

from Churches

SF: Photography is a chance for me to see the world the way it really is through stills.  Capturing life in its current state and the idea of that photo being a stand still image of a moment is also in the back of my mind. Posterity is the most important part of photography in my mind, and what I capture through the lens is almost an after-affect.  Subject material is important, and I shoot a lot of architecture and people, probably for the sheer fact that in one hundred years no one living now will be alive, and in a few hundred years buildings I shot might not be standing.

ES: What inspired the Church and Hudson River series?

SF: I would have to say the same idea as is behind all of my photography, the idea of timelessness and the idea that ideology might be the same and live on, but structure and form change, i.e. the buildings of worship or wall street. 

from New York City Stills

ES: What medium or process do you enjoy the most or which field do you feel you have the most skills in?

SF: I feel that I have the most knowledge in design, and with design I am also learning new things everyday and it really helps my compositions for my other mediums and gives me an outlet to a plethora of ideas.

ES: Frame and setting are important elements in photography, how do they affect the decisions you make behind the lens?

SF: As mentioned previously, time and photography go hand in hand for me. As a photographer, it is important to realize the idea of the still, and hopefully having a narrative between the viewer and the image itself.

ES: What do you shoot with? Do you have a preference, film, SLR, pinhole etc?

SF: I really like the pinhole camera.  Most of the time I am shooting with a digital SLR but I really like the idea of slowing down and knowing that you have maybe a tenth of the material to work with as far as film and paper is concerned, and it gives me the opportunity to really focus on my work. Even when shooting with film or digital, I am always trying to give it a rustic and timeless look through Photoshop, giving my images a grainy look, or hand-made scratches, that’s probably why I like the blurry, gritty pinhole.

ES: How do you decide on the content of your mixed media collages?

SF: Content for my collages, unlike my photography and design, is [based] more on chance than anything.  I go into a collage with a white board, knowing it will be filled, knowing it might be cohesive or not, but that the canvas will get filled and whatever fills it might not be relative to juxtaposing content. It is also a nice break from commercial art and the computer to hand-cut and paste images. 

ES: Who influences your design and photography? Whose work do you look at the most?

San Antonio Meat Market Bag

SF: Saul Bass, Paul Rand, Stephan Sagmeister, and Milton Glaser for design. Elinor Carucci and Edward Burtynsky for photography.  I think all of these artists feed off of each other, even though some are not necessarily contemporaries of one another, they help me frame my work.

ES: Where/What would you like to be doing in ten years?

SF: I would like to possibly own an art gallery or a design studio.  I never really liked working for anyone per say, and hopefully I am given the opportunity to go in my own direction and shy away from the structured 9-5.

ES: Do you have any ideas for thesis? Will you expand or combine any processes?

ES: I’m not to sure what I am going to do for thesis, but I would like to use collage, the principles of design, and photography as a way to convey my message.  I might stick on the idea of timelessness or the actual timeline itself of events to make a cohesive piece.

ES: What inspired you to go to art school?

SF: Well I figured if I had to be in a structured institution for the next four years of my life it would have to be art school and a place that I can feel my personality and ideas working.  It is really nothing less than I expected and glad that I made the decision.