David Arky is not just an artist for art’s sake. To him, photography is a calling in which the final image is designed to achieve an end. So he’s well known not only for how striking and innovative his still life, conceptual and x-ray photography is, but also for his understanding of how the images will be used. Since his start, he’s seen photography as a kind of visual language, crafted in specific ways to solve specific challenges. His process, too, combines instinctive artistry with rigorous methodology: visualizing a solution, then physically applying ink to paper—in as many forms and as many times as it takes—to spark the solution.