Sunstroke & Nocturnes Statement

sunstroke

These images in Sunstroke are an expression of climate angst and anxiety. The colors and textures produce a sublime, abstracted landscape at once alluring and alarming. Through scale and thoughtful installation, I aim to produce an affective reaction in the viewer. This is counterpoint to a more precise and cerebral series like waveforms.

 The works in Sunstroke are digital enlargements of lumen prints. Lumen printing is an alternative process which exposes traditional gelatin silver paper to UV light outside of the controlled environment of the darkroom. This is essentially a misuse of the material and results in fascinating chemical reactions. This is what produces the dramatic colors. The behavior of the paper during lumen printing is determined by many factors including age and paper manufacturer. The original images were made as either 8×10, 11×14 or 16×20 prints. Given the intended affective impact of the work, I opted to digitize and then enlarge the works to their current scale.

The works from Sunstroke are process oriented and heavily layered. They are produced by a combination of contact printed transparencies, physical objects, time, luck and chemical magic. I call it magic because despite my education in the medium, the reason behind these effects still eludes me and feels marvelous. The transparencies are appropriated aerial images of uncontained forest fires. They were sourced from databases managed by NASA and USGS. These photos are what give my images their atmospheric quality, although what appear to be clouds are actually billowing towers of smoke. Other elements 0f these works are created by physically laying objects (of various opacity) on top of the exposing paper. This technique is a form of contact printing and is related to the photogram. Like this technique developed in the early 20^th century, my images from Sunstroke are camera-less.

Nocturnes

The images from the Nocturnes series are a conceptual and technical continuation of work made over the past three years, specifically the series Sunstroke. This work is an expression of climate angst and anxiety. The colors and textures produce sublime, abstracted images at once alluring and alarming. Utilizing an experimental approach, but with the visual language of atmosphere, celestial bodies and terrestrial flora, the resulting images are both otherworldly, yet familiar. I aim to produce an affective reaction in the viewer, one of awe, wonder and fear.  Like the previous work on these themes, the work in Nocturnes are digital enlargements of analog lumen prints.

The content in Nocturnes is specifically created using the remnants of a previous work called Body Farm. Body Farm is comprised of over one hundred laser-cut cyanotypes. The imagery is appropriated from an archive of hand-drawn renderings of endangered flora native to the western United States. The cut paper shapes have been repurposed to create the prints in Nocturnes.