CHROMA
BEGINING:
WE SEE WITH TWO LENES AND OUT THROUGH OUR TWO EYES, PHOTOGRAPHY GIVES US ONE LENS AND BECAUSE OF THAT MONOCULAR VISION WE LOSE DEPTH, THE IMAGE FLATTENS OUT. WE STILL SEE REALITY, WE FEEL THAT THE IMAGE IS REAL AND SHOWS US SOMETHING TRUE OF THIS WORLD. OF COURSE, THE DISCOURSE OF THE LAST 50 YEARS HAS BEEN TO FLATTEN THAT TRUTH OUT, AND TO SAY THE PHOTO IS NOT REAL, THAT THE FALSE IS THE OPERATIVE USE OF PHOTOGRAPHY. BUT I ASK YOU WHAT A 8 X 10 SNAPSHOT OF THE CRUCIFIXION WOULD HAVE DONE TO THE LAST 2000 YEARS OF WESTERN HISTORY, AND/OR, THAT WE ARE NOT ASKING POLICE TO WEAR BODY SKETCH BOOKS TO WORK. REALITY IS THE ESSENCE OF THE ALL THE NEW MEDIUMS, BE IT PHOTOGRAPHY, FILM, OR VIDEO. WHEN I CAME UP WITH THE COMBINATION OF IMAGE AND ABSTRACT SHAPES I KNEW I HAD EXPANDED THAT REALITY. THE POSSIBILITIES OPENED UP TO SOME INFINITE HORIZON WHERE THE DISTANCE WAS WHAT I WANTED AND NOT WHAT WAS ONLY IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA. PRINTING IN ABRACT SHAPES GAVE ME A NEW SYNTAX TO WORK WITH, A WAY TO MAKE NEW SENTENCES, PARAGRAPHS, TO WRITE A NEW VISUAL STORY THAT DANCED BETWEEN REAL AND ABSTRACT. THIS WAS EXCITEMENT, TO TELL A STORY WITH A NEW LANGUAGE. PIECING IT TOGETHER FOR A CONTEMPORARY WORLD, THE WORLD THAT I LIVED IN AND NOT A HISTORICAL PASTICHE OF FORM AND CONTENT. THE DENSITY OF THE STORY COULD BE ANYTHING I WANTED, VARYING HORIZONTALLY ACROSS THE PICTURE PLANE, CREATING DEPTH INTO THE IMAGE, ADDING OR SUBTRACTING TIME AND ITS VARIOUS HORIZONS, OR CREATING A CORSO/RECORSO OF A CIRCULAR TIME.
NOW IT IS GETTING INTERESTING, BUT HOW TO HOLD IT ALL TOGETHER AND NOT JUST BE A COLLAGE OF MATERIAL? I FEEL THAT WEAVING INTO THE “REAL" IMAGE GIVES THE PICTURE AN AUTHORITY, A REASON FOR BEING, EVEN IF TOTALLY ARBITRARY THAT SIMPLE COLLAGE AVOIDS. LET’S LOOK AS THIS REAL, WE KNOW IT WHEN WE LOOK AT A PHOTOGRAPH SOMETHING WAS/IS THERE, EVEN A HINT IS OFTEN ENOUGH TO ESTABLISH THAT GESTALT, THAT PRESENCE THAT ALLOWS THIS TO OCCUR. NOW WE HAVE TURNED THIS REAL ON ITS HEAD AND BROUGHT IN THE ARBITRARY TO MAKE THE CONCRETE, TO MAKE A NEW REALITY, AN ACTIVE PERCEPTION FOR THE VIEWER. ANYTHING ANYWHERE CAN BE SHOWN OR MADE UP IN THIS WORLD.
ACTIVE INDEED. IF WE DO ALLOW THIS INFINITE, THIS ALL, THIS EVERYTHING, THIS ALWAYS, WE HAVE ENTERED THE WORLD OF FREEDOM, THE WORLD OF THE ARTIST. BUT, I DON’T THINK SO! I THINK IT IS RESTRICTION THAT LEADS THE WAY. IN GRANTING LICENSE TO THE ALL WE HAVE A COLLAGE, A BOUNDLESSNESS THAT MAY SERVE, BUT THE RESTRICTION LEADS TO MORE, BY STICKING TO THE REALITY OF THE PICTURE, BY RESTRICTING MYSELF TO THIS POSSIBILITY I WEAVE A DIFFERENT STORY.
#254 CHROMA. 1980
EXCITMENT:
IT STARTED WITH EXCITEMENT, AND THEN IT WAS EXCITEMENT: WITH COLOR. THE SYNTAX OPENED OUT IN NEW AND UNEXPECTED WAYS. COLOR GIVING ME A DEPTH AND COMPLEXITY THAT I WAS ONLY VAGULY AWARE OF IN MY B & W WORK. MUCH OF THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD SEEMED TO BE AT MY DOOR STEP, RANGING FROM ART HISTORICAL WORK SUCH AS DURER WOODCUTS, TO MOST RECENT APOLLO SPACE PROGRAM IMAGERY. THE CROSS HATCHING OF SPACE SHOTS TO SUBTLE USE OF THE AWL ON A BLOCK OF WOOD, SUDDENLY IT ALL MADE SENSE, AND I WAS IN POSSESSION OF A TECHNIQUE THAT I COULD USE; SAY IT ALL. NOW WITH THE CAMERA CAPTURING ANYTHING I WANTED RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME AND THE ADDITION OF ALL THE ELEMENTS THAT HAD BEEN ELUSIVE IN PHOTOGRAPHY, HISTORY, GRAPHICS, TIME MOTION, ABSTRACT SHAPES OF MY CHOOSING AND ANY AND ALL COLORS OF THE RAINBOW. I COULD MOVE FROM SIMPLE EXCLAMATIONS TO COMPLEX RICH HISTORICAL NOVELS AND EPIC POEMS. ANY METER WAS MINE TO USE FROM DACTYLIC HEXAMETER TO IAMBIC PENTAMETER. THE STORY COULD EXPAND TO ANYTHING AVAILABLE, AS IF I WAS AT A TYPEWRITER AND ANY WORD/IMAGE WAS MINE TO USE.
COLOR GAVE ME POSSIBILITES THAT I HAD NOT WORKED WITH IN B & W PHOTOGRAPHY. THERE IS A DEEP, AND A SYNESTHESIA THAT COLOR PROVIDES, PROPELING THE IMAGE AND SHAPES TO A FULLER MEANING, MORE THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS. A WEAVING THAT ALLOWS FOR A PAUSE AND REFLECTION IN THE IMAGE, BETWEEN, AND BEHIND, THAT A SIMPLE SHIFT OF B & W TONES ONLY HINT AT.
SIMPLICITY REMOVED, THE INTERNAL IMAGES NOW PLAY OFF EACH OTHER AS THE IMAGES IN A POEM, RICOCHETING AROUND IN THEIR SONIC AND RHYMING CADENCE.