OC Gazette Jacques Garnier

Jacques Garnier August 2010

The OC Gazette Magazine

Leonardo da Vinci wrote, “Art is never finished, only abandoned.” Orange County photographer Jacques Garnier would agree. In fact, he might argue that the best art is the abandoned.

Garnier is one of six artists collaborating on The Legacy Project, a fifteen-year photography project of monumental proportions. Starting in 2003, the artists behind The Legacy Project have been documenting the decommissioned El Toro Marine Corps Air Station as it is transformed from a military wasteland into a secularized urban park. To many OC natives, the base might seem like an eyesore or waste of space as we patiently wait for the completion of the promised Great Park. But Garnier’s photographs might challenge us to see the abandoned space through a new lens.

“There’s something going on here,” Garnier says. “[This space] is evolving. The changes need to be documented.” A garbage collector in college, Garnier has always been able to find beauty in the discarded. “An artist of any kind is looking at life differently,” Garnier says. Indeed, a blue dress hauntingly flung among a pile of building debris suddenly seems like a perfectly placed prop for a photo shoot instead of trash, and skid marks on the runways give the impression of a painter’s brush strokes, as though they were deliberately marked there.

[“The Great Picture,” the world’s largest photograph, at the OC Great Park. The photo is 3 stories high by 11 stories wide. It was taken by the world’s largest camera.]

Armed with spot-on judgment for composition and natural lighting, Garnier’s photographs sensitively capture not only the unexpectedly aesthetic qualities of the base, but the historical and psychological ones as well.

The base is a spiritual place for Garnier. “This is my church. I find peace and solace.” The peace that he experiences here shows in the graceful aesthetics of his photographs. Weeds triumphantly growing through cracks in the cement of the runways, abandoned buildings with faded paint and broken windows, and piles of broken concrete and dirt suddenly shine with dignity, reflecting their past purpose and value. More than just documentation, Garnier’s photographs combine artistic elements with documentary art, showing a deep, even spiritual, understanding of his subjects.

“Art is created to form a dialogue with the viewer,” Garnier believes. “The viewer doesn’t have to see what I see, but they have to see something.” Not only will viewers see, but they will feel something, too. There is a brooding undertone to many of his works that is hard to ignore, reminding the viewer of disappearing glory and unmet goals. Yet, the promised beauty of future possibilities that his images capture create a balance in his work. Interestingly, Garnier has no formal art background. He is self-taught and intuitive, which makes his ability to capture visceral images of beauty and humanity in such banal objects even more striking.

Garnier visits the base two or three times a month, and he and The Legacy Project collaborators have already created over 90,000 images. And they still have five years to continue documenting! Garnier’s vision for the base, ultimately, is for it to become a beautiful area where people can enjoy and live. The beauty and promise captured in his photographs show that there is hope for his dream.

Local photographer captures beauty in OC’s abandoned places.

{ BY LISA BIRLE }