This interview/critique was published in the fall 1996 issue of The Senuous Line. DAVID VANCE: A LOOK AT THE PHOTOGRAPHER AND HIS LATEST BODY OF WORK INTO THE WOODS; a place of darkness, of distance, of still. The playground to fairies and nymphs and mythagoes, here nature colludes. Dense and foreboding, the canopy shelters its children. Impenetrable thickets blossom like a warning, high branches reach out and envelope the sun, a good mother, she welcomes only the humble and deserving. When the nudes of David Vance enter this nether region they come with caution with meekness with penance. They are seeking passage; they are seeking peace. Vance’s images are not only symbolic of mans relationship to nature they are metaphorical representations of mankind’s relationship with his/her own nature, particularly ones sexual nature. “I relate to the nude the way I relate to my own sexual nature, the way the religious relate to the physical; with conflict.” Vance, like so many of us growing up under the auspices of Catholicism, remembers his sexual awakening as a time of confusion. “Your body is changing and there is nothing you can do about it. Sexual feelings are perfectly natural and yet we are taught that they are bad.” Though, as with most of us, Vance has come to an understanding and acceptance within himself, there is still a lingering of irresolution. This is the essence of his images. Vance’s subjects are engaged in a subtle but intense struggle with Mother Nature. She surrounds, binds and traps them. Fighting and failing, falling prey, being consumed, the mortals lack intent. They are troubled but passive; willing victims for they know She is a kind victor. Though we are at odds with nature we seek to embrace it. First we must allow it to embrace us. Similarly with our own sexual natures we must give in to its gentle pull, accept its grasps and allow ourselves to be overcome, before we can form a kinship. The feel of conflict is heightened in the images involving both male and female figures. There is trouble between the two, there is an imbalance of power; there is a strangeness. They are predator and prey. In The Woods the two are involved in a gentle torment. This encounter heightens our internal unrest by focusing and directing our conflict. Here the conflict with nature is overshadowed by the conflict with the other. She is merely the backdrop, the forum through which we must confront and resolve. Then there is the symbolism: the thorns, the halos, the cape and candles; Catholic relics and pagan rituals. Bodies like offerings, images like incantation. Vance’s attempt at reconciliation, his form of recompense. Here is the magic and the mass. In his art there is an alchemy of the sensual and the ethereal, a marriage between the body and the spirit, the natural and the supernatural, between ourselves and all things greater. Always there is the beautiful. Vance is impeccable in his choice of subjects and his placement of them. The images overflow with innocence. The figures are childlike in their perfection; smooth, unfettered, graceful strength. Forms like Olympiads, faces like angels. His figures are an obvious extension of his own background in sculpting and illustration, as well as, extensions of his own passion for beauty and form. “I have always loved faces and bodies because they are timeless, they never change” Vance’s images are not only timeless, they are universal, archetypal, mythical, ever-present images of the ideal. With them Vance has created a legacy, his legacy, progeny whose strength and beauty will leave a lasting impression “My photos are like my children - they will last longer than me.” In The Woods, there is conflict but also connection. There is a peace, a sweetness, a final gentle love affair between the subject and its gods. They have moved through torment and have found their resolution; forged their peace. Roots which once bound now fall harmoniously, beautifully, tenderly around a form. Forms find perfect balance with in thickets which at one time ensnared them. Trees are embraced, water refreshes, figures sleep like children and animals lend safe passage. In The Woods is a courageous confrontation. It is a mystical place where few mortals dare to go, but when we do, it is with a purpose. Here we face our troubled selves, confront our embodied conflict and hope to find a passage into peace. It is a difficult yet magical journey embedded in beauty. David Vance has given us a precious travel guide.
