Glam Bugs
[slidepress gallery='glam-bugs']“Nuez’s keen eye and succulent colours infuse his insects with a fragile shimmering beauty that deflects much of the horror” Hour magazine
The Glam Bugs Before photographing bugs, like most people, I saw them as insignificant and annoying creatures - a nuisance. However, my impressions began to change when I observed dead bugs through the eyes of a lens. Their lives took on a greater meaning, and by the end of a shoot, I saw them as larger than life icons - sometimes as a heroic figure in an epic drama, or a superstar adored by millions; a tragic victim in a cruel world, or a powerful evil villain. In creating images in this theatrical series, I begin with a concept, making sketches and fleshing out the character I want to create. I start building sets that can range in size from a few square inches to a few square feet. Then I search for the perfect bug to play my assigned role. Once the "star" is discovered, I position it in a pose, using dramatic lighting set-ups, which are often very complex. I use cards and flags to create tiny shafts of light. When the bug is ready to be photographed close-up, the final image is shot on large format film. I prefer using the most mundane and readily available bugs - found in basements, windowsills, and sidewalks. I want to glamorize them, and give them an ambiguous but exciting allure. Some of my bugs end up in a gritty burial ground: dirt, cardboard, the floor... while others are given a rather more glamorous send-off, with all the pomp and glitter of Hollywood. I try to see their faces and look into their eyes. Perhaps their expressions do contain the echoes of untold epic tales, or perhaps, in the end, each of them is simply a dead bug, as the cycle of life completes another turn.
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