Lance Chang: Capturing Motion, Memory, and the Dreamlike Edge of Dance
By Patric Stillman
Please introduce yourself.
I grew up in Hollywood under the influence of my chemist father, my painter mother, the fertile artistic environment of Southern California, the hard-edge painting of Karl Benjamin, and the photography of Helmut Newton and Howard Schatz. After graduating from the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, I moved to San Diego where I now work as a visual artist.
When did you discover your passion for art?
I started taking photographs as a toddler using my parent’s 12-shot Instamatic camera. I’m sure they were frustrated with my “wasting” film and prints on blurry images of my dinosaur toys.
How did you develop your personal technique and style in your work?
I had a portfolio review with a San Diego Gallery Director many years ago. She basically told me that my portfolio was BORING. I had just transitioned my business from commercial to fine art photography. She asked if I had anything else to show her. In my pocket, I had very small test prints (4×6 inches) of some experimental work I had done with analog manipulation. When she took one look at the test prints, she said, “YES, that is what you need to be doing. A work that a viewer would immediately recognize as a Lance Chang.”
Can you talk about the inspiration you draw from the aurora borealis and dance?
I solidified my visual aesthetic after experiencing the mysterious beauty of the aurora borealis (northern lights) during time spent in Iceland. Like the mysterious and ever-changing aurora borealis, I have incorporated distortion and blur to enhance the movement and dreamlike quality of my art. My surrealist images showcase dancers’ graceful fluidity with the undercurrents of raw power and tension required to balance, turn, and jump. Traditional dance photography offers the audience an orchestra pit view of dancers holding a pose, or at the apex of their leap on stage. I want the viewer to experience more than that millisecond, frozen in time under the stage lights.
You are exhibiting at Studio Door Gallery in April. Can you tell us about the work that will be showcased?
The photographic paintings in this solo exhibition span about a decade of visual exploration and revolve around dancers: ballet, belly, Polynesian, Flamenco, and modern. Some of these pieces were included in the permanent collection of the former National Museum of Dance in Sarasota Springs NY. My background in painting heavily influences my practice, even down to the brushstroke-like swaths of color and the choice of watercolor paper or canvas for the prints. I like to work in different physical scales to meet collectors’ space requirements as well as budgets so you will see framed art from book size up to wall size.
Aside from your artwork, do you have any other passions or hobbies?
I have never trained as a dancer, but I trained in martial arts for over 23 years, and that background in movement, timing, and spatial awareness gives me a solid foundation to work with dancers to capture that perfect shot.
How can readers connect with you?
Instagram @changstudioart
The WORD is FAMILIAR.
My body of work centers on presenting the viewer with familiar images that they have never seen before. I allow viewers to tap into their own fleeting and familiar recollections to shape the story behind the image. Viewers have told me that my art can be sometimes beautiful, sometimes dark, and often evokes memories of childhood fairy tales.