Key image for “Time and Space” project
Enter the destructive beat of a pulsar….
Cliche Verre Print - 4x5" negative exposed via fire (micro explosions) to a plate consisting of Carbon, alcohol, ink and film
Staring through the void….
As if looking through a spyglass into the void and discovering a distant world.
Definitely has a late 1920’s Fritz Lang film vibe.
Cliche Verre Print - 4x5" negative exposed via fire (micro explosions) to a plate consisting of Carbon, steel, alcohol, ink and film
Inner light….
Cliche Verre Print - 4x5" negative exposed via fire (micro explosions) to a plate consisting of Carbon, cork, alcohol and ink and film
The fragile world …..
This is why we can't have nice things, state of the world ......
Cliche Verre Print - 4x5" negative exposed via fire (micro explosions) to a plate consisting of Carbon, cork, alcohol and ink and film
The Broken……
The dark side of a broken moon…….
Cliche Verre - 4x5" negative exposed via fire (micro explosions) to a plate consisting of Carbon, cork, alcohol, steel and ink
Let the good times roll
Now, some new images get things swinging again especially when things have started to get a bit slow, repetitive or just plain boring. Starting to try and create planets was a challenge but had an exciting discovery. I managed to get the actual planet form and texture I was trying for which trust me was far more difficult than it sounds. Especially since for these I started using micro explosions again to expose the film under the plate. Which even when using a controlled point of “detonation” was still far from reliable as to what level/field of exposure you would achieve.
Only down side is I am not convinced with the edges around the “planet” yet. In one sense it is almost like you are looking through a lens and in another I am back to my “shit it looks like a petri dish again”. I think I will stick with the looking through a lens thought though, it suites the concept and visual idea, and I really love all the textures and depth in these Images.
Who is eclipsing who?
This one has allot of shifting perspective to me, is it coming from the right or the left? Should it be flipped so it is going up or down? Or is it maybe moving away or towards us?
Cliche Verre - 4x5” negative exposed to a plate consisting of ink, carbon, alcohol, cork and film
Unknown Planetoid
Unknown Planetoid - Cliche Verre - 4x5" negative exposed via fire (micro explosions) to a plate consisting of Carbon, cork, alcohol, steel and ink
What was also unknown to me until recently was that when you viewed images on my site here you couldn’t enlarge them, which rly blows if you are on your mobile, so I have now fixed that! Just click and boom you can actually see the detail I am always going on about
On to create new worlds
Now for something a bit different, I see it almost as looking through a lens, through the void to a new world.
Cliche Verre - 4x5" negative exposed via micro explosions to a plate consisting of Carbon, cork, alcohol, steel and ink
Space, Time and Relativity
Tomorrows homework, to turn this explanation into an image ……. “The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity. Special relativity applies to all physical phenomena in the absence of gravity. General relativity explains the law of gravitation and its relation to other forces of nature.”
Seems easy enough
Cliche Verre - 4x5” negative double exposed by fire (micro explosions) to a plate consisting of carbon, ink, alcohol, earth and film
Trying to imagine something from nothing ….
I am not as much creating Images of space but more creating imagined images of what’s beyond space. However the anchor of my own understanding, research and observations show, as I am still creating images influenced by the underlying context of what I have seen and read about space.
So I think the difficult thing when trying to re-imagine something is that you are using what you know as a base. So it influences and shows through the imagined idea, any new idea that is grounded in past ideas is somewhat corrupted or restrained by it predecessors.
Now the fun part is creating my own imagined ideas of time, I am not going to use images of clocks that’s just stupid, naive and cliché. So will time just be assumed in images of space? Which then assumes distance which then itself is a measurement of time? It becomes a pretty complicated idea, especially considering time is something we take for granted every day. Or maybe I am just making too much of it and should just crack on and see what happens eh?
That’s no moon …..
There is actually a lot that comes to mind when I look at this image. In particular about how organised and certain yet absolutely chaotic and unknown space really is. You have gravity keeping everything in a nice order, round (well ya know roundish) and tidy. While at the same time you have epic supernovas, impacts galore and implosions. The absolute rawness and drama of the violence of space in this near silent vacuum is amazing. It is about the time I made this image when I really started going down the rabbit hole of space and time theory …….. it’s a really, really deep hope. It is also when I started blowing up my negatives again ……
Cliche Verre - 4x5” Negative Exposed via micro explosions to a plate consisting of Carbon, ink, alcohol, cork and film
Stars in bloom…..
I think with any type of abstract work it takes a pinch of salt and imagination to get something from you. Often I think that is why artists give titles to work especially in abstract work, as an open door to their mind on that particular piece. For the work I have been posting over the past months and the coming, the theme is space and time. Now while I may or may not use titles (certainly not stars in bloom for this one, thats too cheesy) I often use headlines or statements just to shed some light on the dark abstraction and where my mind was while creating it.
Cliche Verre - 4x5” negative exposed to a plate consisting of carbon, alcohol, ink, cork and film
Eenie meenie miney mo …..
So I am really on the fence with this particular Image. At first I was certain I preferred the version on the left, which is actually the Negative version. Then I was going through my sketchbook doing cropping notes and I came across it’s Positive, and I was like man, now I am not sure. This happens allot for me since I like to see how each negative looks inverted when scanning, so it usually comes down to some fine minute detail I see that makes the image pop. I still think I am leaning towards the Negative version on the left though ……
Cliche Verre - 4x5” Negative exposed to plate consisting of carbon, ink, alcohol and film
Cosmic Waves
Right now my brain is so overloaded that it has gone blank, like trying to navigate through a thick fog in a field of pits. So till the fog clears I will enjoy sharing works in progress, enjoy.
Cliche Verre - 4x5” negative exposed to plate consisting of carbon, ink, cork and film
Interstellar Intrigue
Cliche Verre - 4x5” Negative exposed to plate fashioned with carbon, ink, alcohol, cork and film
Supernova …… goes pop
Here we have my first attempt at creating a “supernova” or really any type of spacial explosion. It’s interesting because when we see an image of a supernova through a telescope it’s just a tiny white dot …… boring. The amazing images you see from nasa and elsewhere are the aftermath really, taken by dozens of different telescopes (in many different ways) showing what remains from the massive explosion of the star which ultimately creates new life in its death.
Cliche Verre - 4x5” negative exposed to plate consisting of carbon, alcohol, ink and film
Petri Dish Nebula?
In reality I am going to most likely crop sections of this negative to print, I am just showing it as a whole for perspective at the moment. Thats the first hurdle to get over with this series I think, how not to just make a whole lot of micro biology looking images.
4x5” Negative - (Cliche Verre) - plate/template consisted of carbon, cork, alcohol and ink
Planet 626?
Ok so as I continue my "space and time" project I have left black holes behind ... for now. Now on to trying new ways and experimenting to create other ideas of the galaxy or what it could hold.
Planet 626? - 4x5" Negative exposed to a thing glass plate fashioned with ink, carbon, earth and film
A representation of 2020 …. from 1998
I have always liked Don Hertzfeldt since I saw Rejected over ten years ago along with his other shorts. For whatever reason, as my mind tends to wonder about when I am trying to sleep! It popped in my head that to me “Billy’s Balloon” is a perfect representation of 2020.