All photos by Reuben Wu. Used with Creative Commons permission.
As a multi-disciplinary artist, it’s easy to see how Chicago-based visual artist and music producer Reuben Wu seeks creative inspiration in the most stunning locations. Those who are familiar with his work know that surreal landscapes often do the trick for him, whether he’s imagining space exploration through North American landscapes or revealing the beauty of a shrinking glacier in Peru. He describes his visual work as driven not only by the desire to create imagery, but also by a “desire to explore new places as if they were unknown territory”. His ongoing personal series An Uncommon Place definitely best embodies this idea.
Wu conceptualized the series around five years ago as an attempt to show his relationship with landscapes and artifacts, and as a companion piece to his Distant Suns exhibit. Now on its fourth installment, the series indeed takes us to some seemingly secret spots made eye-catching by his taste for the surreal. Over the years, he has taken us to both urban and remote environments, many of which are easy to imagine to be straight out of fictional worlds.
While the moody and grainy nostalgia has evolved into a cleaner and more modern otherworldly quality, An Uncommon Place remains as a cohesive body work. It still serves its purpose of taking the viewer along in Wu’s “perpetual search for unfamiliar terrain.” Each landscape snap leaves us guessing where it was taken, and wondering if we ourselves would be able to find it if we were to embark on the same journey. Those who hold preference for creative takes on landscape photography and Surreal locations will do well to keep an eye on the next installments.
If you’d like to know more about Reuben Wu’s insights on shooting landscapes in this mesmerizing style, you might also want to check out our interview. Head to his website and Behance portfolio as well to see more of his stunning photography.