Justin Fiset

Justin Fiset (b. Edmonton, Canada) is an artist based in Los Angeles,CA. His work is primarily concerned with the narrative capacities of inhabited spaces. With his photography he attempts to contextualize the otherwise banal details of everyday life in order to highlight the complex relationships that exist between these spaces and the people who use them. He studied photography at the University of New Mexico, and since 2007 has worked as an advisor with collectors of fine art photography. His work has been shown nationally and published internationally.

WLA6926 (lifetime), 2017

WLA7109 (cone, cups, boxes), 2017

WLA7901 (red wire), 2018

WLA

Alleyways occupy a unique position in the urban landscape. They are neither entirely public or entirely private and while their path and location is deliberate and planned, the space itself often evolves organically. Their use and meaning change in relation to who moves through them and how they are used. While they are places in a physical sense they are conceptually non-places, without names and left off of maps. They are the negative space of cities, used to discard or store what can’t be left in front and unlike the buildings and public spaces that surround them, alleys (and much of the architecture that encloses them) are not designed to be seen.
Largely accidental or unconsidered (literally the backs of walls, fences and buildings that the owners rarely see), the aesthetic quality of alleys is the result of overlapping, individual interests, indifference, and happenstance. Because of this position they become a parallel zone, a physical subconscious, where the subtle, banal details of life can become more readily apparent. The piling up of things, the marks, and the patchwork, ad hoc constructions can be seen as the signs and symbols of what is taking place in the surrounding streets and buildings. They are the background and details, the exposition, of lives that have unfolded, or are unfolding. With these images I’m interested in what is revealed in and by these empty spaces and inanimate objects, and how through use they become charged with something that is ultimately human.

WLA8381 (broken table), 2018

WLA6922 (brake light), 2017

WLA7073 (lock, lemons), 2017

Untitled (broken furniture), 2017

WLA6841 (blue column), 2017

WLA8395 (jump rope), 2018

WLA8123 (six blocks), 2018

WLA7632 (broken door), 2017

WLA7913 (green string), 2018

WLA6873 (grey shed), 2017

WLA7520 (dishes and palms), 2017

WLA7115 (pink cloth), 2017

To view more of Justin Fiset’s work please visit his website.