Sliced, deconstructed, or split apart. You can call it many things, but your eyes don’t deceive you either way. It’s not a Lego Nikon F3 being split apart; this is a real Nikon F3, after it was cast in liquid and remained there until it hardened. It’s one of many works done by the talented artist Fabian Oefner.
Who is Fabian Oefner
Fabian Oefner was born in Aarau, Switzerland, in 1984. He currently works and lives in Connecticut, USA. Notoriously, his work is known to convey machinery split apart down to its components. But split machinery isn’t the only theme his work covers. Fabian loves fabricating “moments and spaces that blend the lines between the real and the imagined”.
Slicing cameras like onions
Fabian likes splitting many different machines apart in his line of work. It just so happens that he likes splitting cameras as well. My personal favorite series of his is the sliced Nikon F cameras. I haven’t touched Film since Nikon abandoned the F6 a few years back. But still, Nikon SLR and lenses are some of my personal favorites, even though that gear was replaced with the years. Seeing gear you’re so familiar with floating like that feels weird. Gear I cherished was split. Those cameras will never work again, and their inside mechanics are left exposed to the world for all to see. When I first saw these sculptures, I immediately felt a feeling of distress. But, it was followed by a feeling of interest and curiosity. I wanted to see the hidden side of the cameras I cherished.
In conclusion
If you want to see more of Fabian’s work, there is a lot to see on his personal website. The site has a gallery of some of his best works from over the years, and you can even buy prints of his work there if you would like to. If you want to see his process of making one of those sliced camera sculptures, you can find that and more on his Instagram page.
