Life’s too short to repeat oneself
Indeed life it too short to repeat oneself and I believe that is important for my art as well. There is confusion sometimes with my artwork being a hybrid between painting and photography, that the photograms are copies or duplicates, just like photographs are from an original negative or digital file. Nope! Each piece is a hand-made, one-of-a-kind original.
This is one of the reasons I love my process, I’m always continuing to move forward with new and exciting ideas. In fact, the way I create my light exposures in the darkroom speaks more to how the works are not repeatable. Rather than making my images with mechanical and robotic-like machinery, I use the physicality of human movement to be part of the art making experience.
In the pitch blackness of my underground studio, I dart quickly around, flashlight in hand, spilling pools of light across the giant sheets of photo paper. Occasionally even busting a yoga move, hover over the paper, as if I was Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible.
One of the most anticipated parts for me is once the photo-paper is exposed, but the image hasn’t been realized yet. I’m quick to roll up it up in a light-tight tube and to begin chemically processing the photo paper. Only once it’s dry, am I able to see it in overhead lights of the studio and to begin to see if it achieved what I set out to accomplish. As far as Makin’ Copies go…
I’m going to leave that up to the original Richmiester, Rob Schneider.