Image Interface

For this project I started by looking through old 35mm film photographs and negatives. In the spirit of collage, I started connecting photographs from different places by their landscape...

After looking for a while, I started to notice how many rolls of film I had that started with the first negative of a roll-- the one that gets cut off, and sometimes is half black or half an image-- its signature component is the fuzzy vertical line that essentially is (and looks like) a light leak. I realized how many of these negatives I had, both in black & white and color. I went to my printed versions and began to connect them together as a collage, for the initial homework assignment. For some reason this piece went missing from my other photographs in the painting lab, so I sadly do not have an image. But here are some examples of what the images looked like.

I attempted to print three of these particular images out on canvas,

at a larger size.

I decided to take my professor's advice, which was that these light leak photographs were really interesting but maybe an entirely different project in themselves, so I went back to my initial idea. Which was to use photo emulsion, also known as Liquid Light. This can be applied onto any surface and make it photosensitive, then developed and processed as a regular photo would be.

Here is a video explaining emulsion by MoMA:
http://www.moma.org/explore/multimedia/videos/123/690


This was inspired by a few previous projects I have done using liquid light. I am also really inspired by experimental photography development. And I think painting and photography are very intertwined, not in the sense of "photorealism", but the lens has enabled us to paint in an entirely new way. I enjoy artists, who have, over time, played with photography and development or used the lens in an unconventional way.

I think using emulsion brings back the idea of the act or action of painting. It feels less removed than a photograph, to think about the process and performance of creating a painting. I also thoroughly enjoy the notion that you dont always know what you are going to get with using photosensitive chemicals.

Here is a recent Kelly Akashi piece currently on view at Francois Ghebaly Gallery in LA. The emulsion piece is apart of the current show SOGTFO.

I also admire the work of Mathew Brandt, Farrah Karpetian, Jennifer West, Marriah Robertson, Walead Beshty, Stan Brackhage and many others. Here was an interesting article I recently found on emulsion in contemporary!

http://www.artnews.com/2014/02/17/expired-photo-materials-find-life-in-new-photography/

I was going to do this in the dark room, using a projector. But what image would I use? I thought about the idea of a long exposure. What if I projected a video and captured the image. I had my friend, Nimah, run a few sprints for me!

I wanted to connect my use of photo emulsion with painting in a formal way, So I used a piece of canvas as my base. After a lot of testing I came to terms with the fact that I was not going to be able to project a video, because it was too much exposure. I had to pick a still and only project it for a second. I finally got the contrast right and applied the melted down emulsion to the canvas. It is difficult to see so I tried to cover as much surface area as possible. I had to turn the image to black and white so that the emulsion would pick up on it. I projected this still:

After I developed, fixed, washed and dried the canvas, this was my result...
The piece is about 4 feet long by 2.5 wide.

I realized that many people could not see the image too clearly.  I decided to try again on some gessoed and stretched canvases. This round, I was able to apply the emulsion more evenly, due to the smooth surface. However, it was much more fragile and tended to slide off when I had to develop the paintings. In addition, I had trouble with the projector malfunctioning and for some reason, one came out less exposed than the other. 

The image I chose to project was one of my own long exposure negatives taken at nightime through my sunroof on i-5. The image is of lights moving-- this speaks to the notion of light painting which is why I chose the image. The idea of painting with light is enabled through photography and it is ephemeral-- these ideals seem to be oppositional of painting.
Here is the original image. I also mirrored it and made it negative.

here are the final results:

Overall, I felt that this project was a success because I considered painting and images beyond collage, beyond photography, and into a more traditional realm that pushes the perspective a bit. I do not think that these techniques aren't contemporary in anyway. Though it was all a bit fussy, I am still pleased with my results and know that the next versions of these I pursue will be even more refined.