After a long career doing 3D renderings for other architects, Victor Enrich decided to give voice to his creativity, applying his digital skills to photography and embracing computer graphic as a form of art. The result is an eye-catching collection of impossible architectural landscapes – a hotel quietly hovers over the cityscape, a terraced house sits upside down, a skyscraper softly folds back on itself. Enrich’s manipulated architecture is sometimes unsettling, resembling a dystopian future where buildings come to life, inhabiting the same cities they are a constitutive part of, but there is no political or social message behind the Spanish artist’s images. Inspired by his travels, his unconditional love for the city and a desire to explore the possibilities of the form, his distorted buildings are a way to uniquely express himself.
Your work combines photography with 3D architecture illustration. What do you like the most about 3D rendering as a technique?
3D rendering is a technique that goes from the total abstraction of some mathematical parameters into the concretion of an image. In V-Ray, which is the software that I use for 3D rendering, there are more than 50 different parameters which can lead to millions of different possible combinations. So it’s rather complex to get to know what these parameters stand for. Watching the 3D rendering come out while is getting calculated by the computer is still something magic. It feels like unwrapping a present – you already suspect what it will be, but you’re not totally sure yet.
Would you like to explore new techniques aside from 3D rendering?
Yes, I’d love to. Especially those techniques that are more connected to the world of sculpture. I have to find the right moment though, since it's not an easy change of direction.
What was the most difficult part of your transition from full-time 3D illustrator to artist?
I believe it was facing the fear of abandoning a well-known business model, based on being hired as a freelancer by customers, together with the fear of entering a field in which you don’t know how you’re going to survive. However, it’s almost 8 years since I started to dedicate myself exclusively to art and I’m still surviving!
What is the starting point of your projects?
There are several starting points. My projects barely get decided beforehand. Instead, they get defined as I’m working on them. Mainly, I make photos of places and buildings that seem interesting to me. While I’m working on those photos and those buildings, everything remains open, until there’s a day in which I finally decide what to do with what I’ve got.
What would you like to communicate through your modified buildings?
Well, mostly I like to tell people that the passage into art is possible, that we’re not constricted to do a certain job if we don’t like it. I chose deforming buildings as my personal way to express myself and to communicate, because I know the technique and I have the motivation to do it. There’s no other big motivation behind these transformations, such as political messages or assumptions towards how cities should look like.
How do you choose the buildings to include in your series?
They are buildings that catch my attention for whatever the reason. It can be because it’s challenging for me to make a 3D model out of it, or because I want to learn about its architectural structure. Mostly, they are buildings that I find when I’m walking around.
Why do you focus on cities, but never on their inhabitants?
Everything I do is focused on establishing a connection between the people around me and myself. The buildings are the channel that enables this connection. On the other hand, I have always felt the urge to remain as unique as possible in terms of artistic creation, for the sake of being better acknowledged by the audience. That’s why I focus on buildings, because there are thousands of artists who make wonderful art but whose art is based on portraying real people. Until this very moment, I have counted about 10 artists only who exclusively work with buildings.
You have lived in many different places around the world, and travelling seems to be an important part of your creative process. Is there a place that had a particular impact on you?
Since I was a kid, I've always loved New York. I think it’s because of the direct influence of American cinema. However, as I grew older and I began to discover the world through books or the internet, my curiosity expanded towards Asia and Africa. Catching up with the most unique spots of every city or place I visit is still something that excites me a lot.
Is there an architect, a building or an architectural style that you are particularly fond of?
When I was a kid I was in love with Frank Gehry’s early buildings. I believe he is one of the main reasons why I decided to study Architecture. I just wanted to be like him. Nowadays it seems that Frank’s stuff has lost some of its ‘fascino’ –its charm– while architecture that goes side by side with minimalism and huge control over costs is more interesting, such as the work of Estudio Barozzi Veiga or Alejandro Aravena.
You have recently shared some rendered images of the Guggenheim Museum on your blog. Are these part of an upcoming project?
Yes, indeed, I’m working on a project that involves the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Apparently this building will interact with some slums of South Bogotá. We’ll see if it ends up this way.
What projects are you looking forward to working on in the near future?
I have plenty of ideas going on that unfortunately don’t get enough of my attention, since my workflow is really heavy. I have an idea involving some buildings in Rome, the city where I lived my first long-term experience abroad. New York is always there, waiting for its turn. I have a project for the City of London, another one for the White House in Washington. Somehow I need to begin to work faster if I want to deal with all these projects in my lifetime.
