Biography
Aloha. My name is John Bayalis. I created Fenwick Designs a few years ago to collect all my art interests under one roof, particularly photography. I'm originally from southern Delaware, but have been a resident of Georgia since 1999. As the son of two fine artists (father: watercolor realist, mother: oil impressionist), I've always had a passion for the arts, but have focused primarily on photography in recent years. While I specialize in lunar photography, I also strive to produce general images of isolation and detachment that go beyond the moon. Dead trees are a particularly favorite subject. In addition to my artistic photographic explorations, I'm also an obsessive photo-documentarian. For example, from March 2020 through August 2021, during the height of the pandemic, I spent 73 consecutive weeks documenting the day-to-day life of my family as a future gift to my wife and two daughters.
Artist Statement
I produce photographic images that simultaneously elicit two distinct feelings in the viewer: melancholy and foreboding. My preferred approach to composition is to use solemn, often solitary objects that dominate foregrounds in ways that suggest motion. These objects are often set against stark, vast backgrounds that imply impending confrontation of some kind. The combination of these simple yet powerful elements communicates three fundamental truths that no living thing can escape: everything is in perpetual motion, everything evolves, and everything is constantly under pressure from forces well beyond our control.