PROJECTS

FULLY ANALOGUE MANUALLY DIGITIZED ELECTRONIC PHOTOGRAPHIC DISPLAY

(MANNY)

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Process:

A photograph of Manny was taken and an 11 x 14 grid was superimposed on the image. Each square of the grid was labeled on the back using an x and y coordinate system (A1, A2...B1, B2...). The gridded photograph was then cut up into the154 component pieces. Each piece was held up to a twenty step gray scale to determine its overall gray value and marked accordingly. This information was transposed onto an 11 x 14 graph, mapping each fragment’s gray value to its location in the photograph. 154 light sockets and light bulbs were then attached to the wall in a corresponding 11 x 14 grid, and 20 dimmer switches were mounted below. The bulbs were subsequently painted with a translucent, heat resistant black paint. Each socket and bulb (representing one of the 154 segments of the photograph) was wired to the dimmer switch of the corresponding gray value (i.e., a value of 1 was attached to dimmer #1 etc.). The dimmers were then set from 1 (off) to 20 (fully on) at 5% increments. When illuminated, the bulbs create the gradations of the gray scale mapped to the digital, photographic information. The result is a fully analogue, manually digitized, electronic, photographic display of the portrait of Manny. (Note: leaning away from the monitor and squinting brings the image into “focus”)

D CONSTRUCTION DRAWING

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BEFORE THE FORM THE MUSIC

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KEN/JEREMY

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Process:
Gum Bichromate enlargement (60 x 84 inches)

The Gum-bichromate method is a pigment based printing process that was developed in the mid-19th century. The process has always been done as a contact print, meaning the negative is laid directly on the sensitized paper and then exposed. Thus, the print is the same size as the negative. I have developed a method of doing enlargements. This 5 x 7 foot print is enlarged from a 35mm negative and exhibits exceptional detail and clarity. The second image, with me in front, is to give a sense of scale.

This image was built up with eight exposures. An emulsion was made for each exposure and painted on the paper in a loose and gestural manner, covering only about 70 percent of the paper, leaving brush marks and drips as they occurred (see third image below). Each subsequent layer built up and solidified the image, but the history of the painterly marks still remains visible, embedded within the analytical precision of the photographic image.

TANOGRAPH

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A photographic portrait was taken of Mike and Meg and then an 8 x 10 negative was created. Throughout the course of a several weeks the image was "printed" onto their abdomens in a tanning booth, utilizing the photosensitive nature of human skin (see second image below). Back at the studio, using analogue print film, the image of his face now imprinted on his abdomen was photo-documented. Employing various lighting conditions and exposures, along with the natural deviations due to the model’s breathing and posture, a triptych of slightly varying images was create

MANNY

Process:

Fadeographic Print

The Fadeograph utilizes the properties of red rosin paper—the type of paper commonly used by carpenters and painters to protect the floors of a job site. This paper is prone to fading when exposed to sunlight.

A photographic image of Manny was taken and printed as a positive image on transparency film. The piece of rosin paper was stretched over board, the transparency was affixed to the surface and sandwiched under glass. It was then put in a window and exposed to the sun for several weeks. The transparency and glass were removed revealing the photographic image. The paper was then coated with numerous coats of a UV blocking varnish thus “fixing” the image.

TREE ON WOOD

Process:
Prunusotype

The cherry tree's scientific name is Prunus. The wood of the cherry tree has a photo-chromatic property that causes it to darken when exposed to ultraviolet light. This is why furniture made out of cherry darkens with age. Utilizing this photo-chromatic property, I took a photograph of a tree, made an 8 x 10 inch negative and affixed it to the surface of a freshly planed plank of cherry wood. The board was then placed in a window for several weeks in direct sunlight. Once exposed, the negative was removed and the wood was varnished with an ultra-violet blocking varnish.

LINE DRAWING/NATURE DRAWING

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Process:
Gum Bichromate enlargement

This is a 34 x 40 inch gum-bichromate enlargement which is printed on watercolor paper and mounted on stretched canvas. This image of severely backlit power lines is one in a series of "found drawings”. The pigments I use in my gum printing are carbon blacks, the same material as artist’s charcoal. The graphic and velvety quality of the charcoal image creates a tension between the objective documentation of corporal reality and the seemingly intuitive and gestural “drawing.”

Seminal work that animated my interest in the artist's mark as the subject of exploration:

SPRINGBED OF THE UNIVERSE (A WORKING MODEL)

[composite of views]

A mixed media installation occupying two galleries. The piece has a linear orientation anchored by two interconnected drawings: a carbon burn mark left on the wall by a bottle rocket at one end, and at the other end a gold spiral drawn on the wall by a drawing machine. The piece has a performance and kinesthetic element. A bottle rocket is lit, shoots up the guy-wires and explodes. The explosion releases the pewter cherub which is suspended above the rotunda. Now released, the cherub descends from within the suspended rotunda. The cherub descends on a long cord spanning both galleries that connects at the opposite end to carved wooden gears. As the cherub descends, the cord unwinds from the gear spool and rotates the gears. This turns the drive belt, which powers the drawing machine, resulting in a gold spiral being drawn on the wall. The gold spiral overlaps a large gum bi-chromate photograph which has been exposed and printed directly on the wall surface. The wall has been altered. Under the photographic image of one of the helical springs, a vortex penetrates the wall plane. The image of this coil spirals down into the vortex. Seven chrome spheres of decreasing size are suspended from the wall in an arching formation descending into the vortex.

ARTIST STATEMENT

For the past eight years I have been focusing on conceptually driven photographic projects. This work continues my exploration of the artist's mark and its ability to embody meanings that somehow transcend the more pedestrian visual information we encounter. I think of this as an artistic investigation into the epistemology of the artist's mark.

Each project is in some way self-reflexive. For example Tree On Wood is an image of a tree, made by a piece of wood. Exposing an untreated plank of cherry wood to the sun naturally stimulates a photo-chemical reaction at the cellular level. Using a photographic negative to create a contact print, a subtle, detailed image is created by the wood fibers themselves. The physical process which brings the image to light parallels the biological, photosynthetic process which brought the tree itself to life. Visually, the polished, hand-rubbed varnish accentuates the wood grain and imparts a sense of three dimensional depth to the piece of wood. Simultaneously, the particularity of the exposed image draws the viewer's eye away from the grain pattern to the photographic details- the handrail on the wooden walkway, the reeds in the foreground, the water in the background... The interplay of the wood grain pattern with the photographic imprint disrupts the normal mode of perceiving a photograph. The visual reality of this Prunusotype forces the conceptual aspect of the photographic process to the foreground, making it a prime focus of the viewer's perception. This is not a "transparent" printing process that results in a disembodied image framed on a neutral ground, but a process that generates an image quite literally embodied within the material world. This image resists disinterested contemplation.

I am interested in this internal, layered dialogue about the nature of image-making, perception and meaning. The concept, process and materiality of the artwork are all equal players with the optical. While I strive to make work that is conceptually rich, the syntax of this visual discourse is not discursive, but poetic. My hope is to create visually compelling images that draw the viewer in, are pregnant with meaning, and engage in a deep and rich critical dialogue.