Robbert Flick: Trajectories

Robert Flick's work extends the same visual, philosophical and theoretically fertile tradition set by the highly influential and iconoclastic Robert Heinecken. But while Heinecken's emphasis can be said to rely on the manner in which images function within the intersection of popular culture and the fine arts, Flick has characteristically concentrated more intently on the artifactual, conceptual and receptive properties of photography--specifically landscape photography. The distinctive retinal and conceptual strength of Flick's work has been evident since his early essay-format images of the 1960s. In his more recent digital work, he extends his participation in the critical discourse established around the interpretation, evaluation and assessment of visual constructs related to the landscape. And yet, this movement has only become possible through a conceptual transition from a position of creating unique objects to an emphasis on interactivity and multiple access using still and moving images that allow for the work's insertion into the broader socio-political arena where the application defines the discourse.