Hit or miss……
Sometimes you like it and sometimes you don't .... this one just feels a bit too busy and obvious at the moment. Would generally do another 10 versions of it, but im just about out of colour sheet film. 4x5" colour sheet film has become ridiculously expensive, actually all colour film has become way over priced. So may just go back to black and white for a while .... I like to switch it up anyways.
Cliche Verre print created from a 4x5" colour negative exposed directly to layered plates
Colour Cliche Verre
Here we have my latest work using the technique Cliche Verre in colour. Created from hand altering plates then exposing them directly onto 4x5" colour film, in this case Kodak Ektar 100.
In The Depths - Colour Cliche Verre, 4 plates exposed directly onto 4x5" colour film.
Just another manic …. saturday?
Currently working on this image, it was originally taken around 2006/07. An appropriate image as I hate this time of year and I am pretty sick of the constant rain atm.
Canon Eos 3 - 35mm Fuji Acros 100
Just a shadow of a ghost …..
Some days you feel like a shadow in the fog. This one is from around 2004, thick fog at second beach in Newport R.I. These days I do a lot of layering of images, three to four layers at times. This older image combined with new should work well, I think.
35mm canon EOS-3 - Fuji Neopan 400
A curious place……
Here is an old favourite from around 2006/2007. It was taken in the boiler room of an abandoned cinema in New Bedford M.A. I knew someone that owned a business connected to it so I could come and go as I wanted. Besides being a fairly creepy place, the boiler itself seemed much older than everything around it. Like the building had been built around it, instead of the other way around. It was was crumbling and seemed to list to one side like it was sinking into the floor. The pipes wen't in all directions that seemed to make little sense to anyone but whoever it was that kept connecting new lines.
I remember I was working with adding figures into abandoned spaces trying to add a more human connection to these derelict places. However I didn't wan't straight up models present, nor did I wan't ghostly shadows. So I was using direct harsh lighting sources. I would bring this old shop light that used a 500 watt bulb. It would leave the shape and contours of the figure but wash out most of the identifiable features. The first work I did with this print was using liquid light on an a2 sheet of cold press water colour paper, then used black india ink to work in the details and outlines. It was a great print, unfortunately something was contaminated in the processing and after a few years it decayed to just a brown mess. The washed out figure and white spaces will work out for an idea I have now though.
35mm - Fuji Acros 100
Lost highway ….
I think this one is from around 2005, taken on a road by second beach in Newport R.I on a foggy night, using my cars headlights to light the shot.
It seems distinctly American to me with the long, wide road and power/phone lines over head, but it could be anywhere really.
Whenever I am looking at an image I often start to wonder into thoughts of movies, music and books. For this one the first thing to pop into my head was the opening scene to Lynch's "Lost Highway" which I don't think I had seen yet in 2005, a quote from Mad Max: The Road Warrior "With a roar of an engine, he lost everything", White Zombies track "Thunder Kiss 65" and just now the book Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers .... none of these things have much in common really, except they have roads. Just an interesting example of how my brain works I suppose....
Back in the day……
So I have been going through some old negatives that haven't seen the light of day for the better part of 15-18 years, just looking for something that could use a bit of new life twisted into it From a time when I was just taking pictures of everything I could. Film was cheap and I had loads I wanted to do, so I used to burn through it. I have a vague recollection of when I took this one, but whose eye it is totally escapes me. I do remember always liking the reflection of the ring flash though . Now the question is, what can I do with it now?
35mm Kodak 400TMY - 2004/2005?
Memory Dump…
Well that’s school done till next year! Gives me almost a month to have an art land memory dump, lets see if that turns out anything interesting.
"The Flawed System" - Cliche Verre- 4x5" B&W negative exposed via fire (micro explosions) to a plate consisting of Carbon, alcohol, ink, steel, glue and film
Just keep it simple…
Currently going through some writing to finalise the statement for the "Time and Space" project. I generally avoid saying Artist Statement outside of formalities if I can. The idea of the "artist statement" is fine if you keep it genuine. Give the viewer an explanation, a bit of background on what they are looking at. Unfortunately for the most part "Artist Statements" are an incoherent diatribe of art speak and confusion that not even the writer really understands, but does know that their final year Uni professor would have loved it, and so it must be good. A way to make the lifeless, boring images of your work come to life! Sorry mate you can't go on about the meaning of the cosmos and then present the visual of a ruler in a dusty corner .......
Anyways, here is an image that may end up in the series.
"Can the Void Burn?" - Cliche Verre- 4x5" B&W negative exposed via fire (micro explosions) to a plate consisting of Carbon, alcohol, ink, steel, glue and film
Too Cold too cold!
So I was thinking about doing some work in the darkroom but it is absolutely FREEZING in there right now, and having the heater and hot water running for hours will cost a small fortune!
So i't a good time to go through the "Space and Time" series and start to get it organised, think of wanky titles etc to put up on the website.
"Galaxy in Semblance" Cliche Verre - 4x5" B&W negative exposed via fire (micro explosions) to a plate consisting of Carbon, alcohol, ink, steel, glue, engraving and film
Never enough time…
Sadly I haven't been able to create much new work over the last months as I have been neck deep in studying Mechanical Engineering at uni. Definitely a good reminder of how my sanity requires my creativity. Just a two more finals and I will have some spare time to crank out a few ideas.
In the meantime here is a print created from a solarised 4x5" b&w negative.
Cliche Verre - 4x5" B&W negative exposed via fire (micro explosions) to a plate consisting of Carbon, alcohol, ink, steel, glue, engraving and film and then solarised.
Cliche … with and without the Verre ……
You gotta watch out, skulls are sooo cliche. But what about a skull, with a gear, lightning, with crease and etching marks? I really don't know, nor do I care because it works for what I am going for.
Cliche Verre print created from a 4x5" colour negative exposed directly to layered plates
Productive….
A productive morning yesterday @edinburghprintmakers doing some photo-plate lithography printing. I was very happy with black and white results and looking forward to trying some layers in the near future.
All together now…
Now here are all three of the versions I have posted of this particular image. I guess you could say steps but each one has it's own individual unique qualities.
From left to right - (L) - Cliche Verre/Sun Print - Ilford Fiber Glossy Paper exposed to a plate consisting of Carbon, alcohol, ink, engraving and film
(C) - Cliche Verre print created from a 4x5" colour negative exposed directly to layered plates
(R) - Cliche Verre print created from a 4x5" colour negative exposed directly to etched layered plates
Part three of three
And this is the final version of this image .... or is it? I swear every time I look at it there is a part I wan't to change.
Cliche Verre print created from a 4x5" colour negative exposed directly to layered plates
Part two of three
So this is an image I have been working with for a while now, and this is the second "usable" version out of several. I always end up doing multiples of the same image because there is always something I wan't to change, enhance or remove. For the most part it is a combination of removing one part only to add another. Such as etching which removes material and image from the base but adds the texture and mark marking of etching.
Cliche Verre print created from a 4x5" colour negative exposed directly to layered plates
Past, Present, Future Unknown
So here we have the original Image I made several months ago that I then used to create a photo plate lithography print that I shared the other day. The "base" of this image is a vintage portrait I purchased as part of a job lot years ago, and what caught my interest in it was that it looks ALOT like me in my early 20's if I had a comb over haircut lol. So no relation, a portrait that is over 100 years old, and a total chance that I came to own it, just an intriguing thing.
This was made by directly exposing a four layer plate to a 4x5" colour negative (think it was Kodak Portra)
Did a thing….
So this past weekend I took a 3 day photo plate lithography course at Edinburgh Printmakers. It was a great class and I really enjoyed learning a new process. I have been looking for a way to make limited edition hand made prints and this may be it! Anyways here are some of the results of that course, enjoy!
It Will Destroy You
So I generally struggle with titles, and tend to avoid them rather than force them. If it comes naturally and fits then I am all for it otherwise I stick with more of a sequence of descriptions, dates or numbers in a series. And don’t try to give me that shit about anything is a “title” bullshit, save it for art school. Anyways this one has a title and a bit of writing I did that suits it, so if you feel like delving into the dribble of a madman then knock yourself out.
There is a common idea, misconception, stereotype whatever you want to call it about mind alteration and art. But like many stereotypes and misconceptions there does lye a glimmer of truth. The tortured artist, however in reality the artist is ultimately tortured by themselves. There are many different ways in which the "torture" occurs, but what I'm going to say is solely about the torture that is inflicted through substance abuse.
Are you more creative when under the influence? The answer is pretty hypothetical, and probably includes a heavy dose of narcissism. However the effects of your chosen poison do “loosen” your mind and your reality. I will not say frees your mind as many would, because freedom implies escape. And while the substance may seem to provide an escape it is really just providing a cage outside of your current perceived cage. Freedom also implies an escape from consequences. And I think we all know by now that freedom isn't "free" there is always consequences.
And consequences are what ultimately tortures the artist with regards to substance abuse.
With whatever it is you are on, you probably find yourself more "creative", for a while at least. Your inhibitions are laxed, your perception of morals, good, bad, what's up and what's down are all in flux as you are no longer constrained by the anxiety of over thinking. So yes for a time you are more creative, you are outside of your box. And I say your box because it is exactly that, it is your box, it is your life, and everyone has their own box.
And the thing about your box is that you have a symbiotic relationship with it, it Is your life and you need it to survive as much as it needs you to exist.
So the longer you are outside of your box the more everything within it suffers. Your relationships, your dreams, goals and your mind. Ideas flow free and great ideas come and go but as time goes on you find yourself forgetting more than you are remembering. And while your inspiration may come from being outside of the box your art lives in your box. So it too sufferers, and in the end along with your mind will die.
So yes the torture is consequences, so while your substance may grant you a heightened sense of perception or a creative edge temporarily, and it is temporary, in comparison with your lifespan. In the end the consequence is that it will destroy you.
It Will Destroy You - Cliche Verre print created from a 4x5" colour negative exposed directly to three layered plates