Picking up not where I left off in 2013 but I’m starting again with “Misprints” series. I’m responding to the material and reworking the process of fixing the image. I used a gold and silver ground for these smaller pieces and as a result it took on an atmospheric quality.
I’m working with water-based mediums to fix the ink on uncoated smooth film and mylar. In this Misprint, I used a gum Arabic medium I prepared myself, and it seems to work for the first few weeks, but after changes in humidity, the piece disintegrated. In the dark tones, the ink cracked and separated from the substrate. I took this photo before the pieces broke apart and attempted to re-fix using an acrylic medium that seems to work well.
“Wondering in Europe,” 1988. Watercolor on found paper
Reflecting on my early drawings, I notice they are often small and intimate, created with ink on vellum or tracing paper. These pieces explore the spontaneous act of drawing, responding to the line and flow of ink wash as it moves across the surface. The key was to draw daily without intent. My subjects ranged from immediate surroundings to various mental images, or simply doodling in a state of lucid awareness. The outcome was unpredictable, tracing different thought patterns. Revisiting this method—setting a place and time for a daily, unforced practice—appeals to me, aiming for an intuitive process that yields unexpected results.
“Screen,” 1997. Gouache, computer graphics, laser-print transfer on paper, 8-1/2 x 11 in.“Screen,” 1997. Gouache, computer graphics, laser-print transfer on paper, 7 x 9-3/4 in.“Screen,” 1997. Gouache, computer graphics, laser-print transfer on paper, 8-1/2 x 11 in.“Screen,” 1997. Gouache, computer graphics, laser-print transfer on paper, 8-1/2 x 11 in.
Looking back at my early drawings (ca. 1997), and before getting hooked on the computer and digital photography thing, I enjoyed playing with materials, exploring various ways to mark the surface, and transferring images back and forth between the computer, Xerox, laser printers, and photography while keeping the paper to a manageable size. Drawing as a way of writing and thinking by working through the process, which was the basis for any other project I was working on.
Installation view at FoMu (FotoMuseum), Antwerp, Belgium, 2013
Installation at FotoMuseum, Antwerp, 2013
Editing the News
The exhibiition opens on October 25, 2013 — February 2, 2014 at the FoMu (FotoMuseum), Antwerp, Belgium
The news that ends up in the newspapers at our breakfast tables has been subjected to endless filters. Every day, thousands of photographs are posted to editorials offices, while only a few make it to the finish. This exhibition FoMu questions these selection rounds. Why is one image chosen above another? Whose lenses are we looking through anyway? With work from Hans Aarsman, Alfredo Jaar, Martijin Kleppe, Paul Qaysi and Frank Schallmaier.
Curator & Editor by Joachim Naudts
2004 Free-standing rear-projection 81 x 44 inches screen Single-channel video, color, silent, 10 min. looped
Artist Taysir Batniji, Nina Berman, Viktoria Binschtok, Robert Boyd, Black.Light Project, Luc Delahaye, Thomas Demand, Harun Farocki, Omer Fast, Samuel Fosso, Kathrin Günter, Hofmann&Lindholm, James Howard, Alfredo Jaar, Sven Johne, William E. Jones, Barbara Klemm, Petra Köhle and Nicolas Vermot Petit-Outhenin, David LaChapelle, Eva Leitolf, Armin Linke, Gustav Metzger, James Mollison, Simon Norfolk, Peter Piller, Elodie Pong, Paul Qaysi, The Atlas Group/Walid Raad, Jo Ractliffe, Doug Rickard, Martha Rosler, Michael Schmidt, Frank Schramm, Manit Sriwanichpoom, Hank Willis Thomas, Oliviero Toscani, Jeff Wall, Michael Wolf.
Curators Anne-Marie Beckmann (Art Collection Deutsche Börse), Lilian Engelmann (Frankfurter Kunstverein), Peter Gorschlüter (MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main), Dr. Holger Kube Ventura (Frankfurter Kunstverein), Alexandra Lechner (Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie) and Celina Lunsford (Fotografie Forum Frankfurt).