from series CONCEPTS - see you later Bram_ 1235
CONCEPTS
These originated a few years ago from an error caused by the malfunctioning of an ink-jet printer in a photographic laboratory during a short test print of an abstract work of mine belonging to one of my cycles. To my intense wonderment, dismay and embarrassment at its non-rationality, what came out was a total absence, or rather minimal residue, of the complete visibility of the original photograph and its transformation into something completely new, different, much more attractive, almost a chromatic and formal weave of what was left.
I have conserved it to this day, very jealously, but since it is unrepeatable, like almost everything that arises randomly and non-rationally, as through the sudden accidental malfunction of a printer, I have always regretted not being able to replicate the incident, if not faithfully then at least as an artistic concept to be developed in my work.
The years passed, then in 2012... the idea.
The approach was entirely a concept – CONCEPT ONE is thus the title of that first, and I hope last, random error which arose all that time ago. From it has come a line of research which has resulted in some new and interesting pieces.
Though not dissimilar to the initial concept, the technique was invented from scratch and designed by me to be used – with all the limitations invariably conditioning a new project – to create a whole new cycle, a process with a life of its own, autonomous and non-random.
Briefly put, the components used are an ink-jet printer, photographic paper, and – no small factor this – my handiwork, which could also be termed effective and actual manipulation, almost anatomical (that is not using photographic software), starting from one or more of my photographs, usually deliberately abstract (anyone who knows my work will understand what I mean), from one of my cycles.
Using my hand and some other tools, with the addition of a little secret or two, I have managed to create a new world, abstract at first sight but bristling with references to figurative or formal features: green landscapes, seabeds, nascent stars, lunar terrains, hidden caves, rock walls, frozen rivers and lakes, enchanted forests, as well as sidereal views of incalculable depth – black holes which sometimes take on colour, asteroid fragments wandering in space, formal weaves which seem to offer no way out, and a great deal more... lastly, abstraction pure and simple.
They may be manual, not digital, manipulations of pre-existing abstract photographs or new works created especially for this cycle, as mentioned earlier, or pure photographic ink on photographic paper with a subsequent development planned and designed by me.
Though the term may be inexact, all these new pieces are the offspring, or perhaps distant relatives, of that first random event, which may be properly defined as a BIG BANG, from which this cycle grew, so I think it appropriate to continue to name them CONCEPTS.
The first steps were made on A4 paper and then A3... the next step will be an attempt to take the work to much larger dimensions.
Copyright © Silvio Balestra 2012
These originated a few years ago from an error caused by the malfunctioning of an ink-jet printer in a photographic laboratory during a short test print of an abstract work of mine belonging to one of my cycles. To my intense wonderment, dismay and embarrassment at its non-rationality, what came out was a total absence, or rather minimal residue, of the complete visibility of the original photograph and its transformation into something completely new, different, much more attractive, almost a chromatic and formal weave of what was left.
I have conserved it to this day, very jealously, but since it is unrepeatable, like almost everything that arises randomly and non-rationally, as through the sudden accidental malfunction of a printer, I have always regretted not being able to replicate the incident, if not faithfully then at least as an artistic concept to be developed in my work.
The years passed, then in 2012... the idea.
The approach was entirely a concept – CONCEPT ONE is thus the title of that first, and I hope last, random error which arose all that time ago. From it has come a line of research which has resulted in some new and interesting pieces.
Though not dissimilar to the initial concept, the technique was invented from scratch and designed by me to be used – with all the limitations invariably conditioning a new project – to create a whole new cycle, a process with a life of its own, autonomous and non-random.
Briefly put, the components used are an ink-jet printer, photographic paper, and – no small factor this – my handiwork, which could also be termed effective and actual manipulation, almost anatomical (that is not using photographic software), starting from one or more of my photographs, usually deliberately abstract (anyone who knows my work will understand what I mean), from one of my cycles.
Using my hand and some other tools, with the addition of a little secret or two, I have managed to create a new world, abstract at first sight but bristling with references to figurative or formal features: green landscapes, seabeds, nascent stars, lunar terrains, hidden caves, rock walls, frozen rivers and lakes, enchanted forests, as well as sidereal views of incalculable depth – black holes which sometimes take on colour, asteroid fragments wandering in space, formal weaves which seem to offer no way out, and a great deal more... lastly, abstraction pure and simple.
They may be manual, not digital, manipulations of pre-existing abstract photographs or new works created especially for this cycle, as mentioned earlier, or pure photographic ink on photographic paper with a subsequent development planned and designed by me.
Though the term may be inexact, all these new pieces are the offspring, or perhaps distant relatives, of that first random event, which may be properly defined as a BIG BANG, from which this cycle grew, so I think it appropriate to continue to name them CONCEPTS.
The first steps were made on A4 paper and then A3... the next step will be an attempt to take the work to much larger dimensions.
Copyright © Silvio Balestra 2012
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