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entertaining u newspaper: your weekly guide to entertainment
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by donald dusinberre
imartsyfartsy@gmail.com
Back in the old days, all telephones had cords and all cameras required film. If you still use one of those cameras, you have to take your film to Wal-Mart, where little elves work very hard to poorly develop your pictures.
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In case you didn’t know, it’s possible to develop film with a myriad of different techniques. When the revolution comes and all the Wal-Marts are destroyed by fire, most of us will have to make the switch to digital cameras. However, there are still a few artists who can develop their film without the help of evil corporate elves. The new exhibition at the Jane Gray Gallery features many of these artists, and the photos are more than just pretty pictures.
The title of the show, Photoprocess, is more fitting than I first presumed. Cyanotypes. Kallitypes. Polacolor image transfers. Ultra chromagenic prints. Platinum prints. There’s not a single Wal-Mart print in the entire exhibition, and the variety of photographic developing processes is truly fascinating. Each photo is displayed in such a way that the viewer can see traces of all the steps of the developing process, and those traces enhance the overall look of the work. It’s like peeking backstage during a play; you get a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to produce a work of art. Or, for the new-wave digital fans, it’s like watching your favorite movie with the director’s commentary.
Featuring the work of Anna Tomczak, Jay Shoots, Thomas Hager, Linda Broadfoot, Rick Wagner, Jennifer Johnson, and Paul Karabinis, the Jane Gray Gallery boasts a dynamic exhibition space with artwork in many separate rooms, hallways and niches. They even have photos hanging in the bathrooms. It was pleasant to experience so many examples of photographic styles in such an intimate space. Even though none of the photos are antiques, their creation process has deep roots, which complements the already comfortable gallery.
The various photographic processes displayed at the Jane Gray Gallery are unique to themselves and highly involved. I’m not sure, but I doubt that any artist could bang out 24 prints in an hour. Although most of the developing processes differ from one another, most of them have one important fact in common: No print can ever be duplicated exactly, which makes these pieces of art very different than regular photographs. Paintings show brush strokes and sculptures show tool marks, but regular cameras have negatives that can be produce an almost infinite supply of duplicates. Such is not the case with these photo processes, which is one of the things that make them so interesting.
Luckily, most of the artists have provided information on their art as well as a brief explanation of how they create it. For instance, a few of the artists use a 20 x 24 Polaroid camera, and Linda Broadfoot describes its use in her statement:
“The camera, though measuring five feet in height and weighing 235 pounds, operates like any camera using Polaroid materials. The 20 x 24 inch film is exposed and then promptly pulled apart. The large negative sheet is then placed face down and squeegeed onto a piece of water-soaked Fabriano, a smooth, hot-pressed watercolor paper that quickly absorbs and retains the dyes. The negative is allowed to sit on the paper for several minutes, and then is slowly and carefully peeled away. Rewetting the paper then renders the dyes more malleable and the image is worked into by hand, using tools including large wads of cotton, cotton swabs, and cotton-tipped toothpicks to remove and mute portions of the image. Watercolors are sometimes applied to the finished dry print to enhance the image…”
Anna Tomczak notes that “every print is unique, as each negative is transferred immediately after being photographed, and therefore is not duplicated. Some of the assemblages are photographed two to three times. The changes are more slight than obvious, always with a distinctive gesture.”
Visit the Jane Gray Gallery soon to experience new examples of history and creativity. The photographs will be on display until July 27th. For more information on the Jane Gray Gallery, call 904.338.5790.
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