Re: Alternative Processes and Concept and Temporality and...

Steve--

I think this is a really fascinating thread, and am sorry more people
have not responded (or anyone) to it yet. Personally I use each medium
as a different expression of ideals, because each medium you touch has
its own characteristics. Personally I'm really invested in Albumen.
in the past I have used it conceptually to relate place to time, which
sounds rather heady, but I'll explain. when my mother passed away
close to 2 years ago, I took a dress that reminded me of her, that was
white (which has many layers of conceptual meaning) and took it back to
places that she would have been if she had been living still. It was
important to use albumen to place the imagery in a stilled state of
time, resting backwards, rather than forward in space.

BWAH, I've had too much coffee today, but I am pretty interested in the
continuation of this thread because I feel like most often alternative
process work is forgotten by the Mainstream Art industry because the
conceptual backing to most alternative printers is rather lacking. But
many ideas are particularly furthered by the printing process, chance
being the biggest one. I don't know how you'd identify yourself within
theory, I am certainly influenced by Post-Modernism, but there is a
certain part of me that responds artistically to the ideas of
Structuralism/Post-Structuralism. Unfortunately I don't know enough
about the theories to be able to separate the two. Anyone have any
help for me on that?

Alright, enough, i have to get ready for work. thanks for the thread
Steve, its a nice breath of fresh air to all of the talks of process,
because conceptual backing is an important, if not, the important side
to an image.

adam.

On Mar 9, 2004, at 12:47 PM, Steve Bell wrote:

> Hey Everyone,
>
> time has come again for me to rear my reclusive head, for a question
> that's
> been bouncing around in it lately. i've been thinking about those of
> us who use
> alternative processes, some much more dedicated than others. none the
> less, i'm
> curious as to why people do this. i mean, obviously there are aesthetic
> reasons, and i feel like that is probably the most prominent reason,
> but i
> think there's more to it.
>
> in fact, i think it was Jack Brubaker that mentioned something about
> hand
> crafted products, and their appeal, which i think touches on what i
> think hooks
> people. in fact, i think some of it has to do with the idea of
> authenticity,
> and even further than that, temporality (modernity, postmodernity too,
> but i'm
> going to try to avoid these arguments. it seems no one wants to talk
> about that
> stuff.) but if you think about it, alternative processes really talk
> about
> craftsmanship. being an artisan and a craftsperson. these aspects of
> our
> culture are almost, if not completely, gone. what we have now is mass
> production, impersonal products that are intended to define us as
> individuals.
> a lot of the commodity critic artists of the late 80's thru the 90's
> to today
> have criticized these parts of our culture (even andy warhol did with
> his
> brillo boxes. he was talking about art too, but also commodity, mass
> production, mass culture). and if we think about space, and the
> authenticity of
> space, that authenticity is certainly fading away as architecture
> becomes more
> about being a totalizing experience than something that responds to and
> compliments its environment.
>
> so in this world that is becoming more and more produced and less and
> less
> creative, authentic, crafted, i see people like alt process printers
> looking
> back, and not necessarily in a reactionary, historicist way, but in a
> way that
> reclaims these forgotten crafts in an attempt to thrust them into the
> time that
> we live in.
>
> and oh yeah, i mentioned temporality. i'd like to hear what you all
> have to say
> about this. one of the things i think about a lot is the instanteneity
> of our
> (western) culture. cell phones, text messages, email, drive up bank
> machines,
> 24 hour convenience stores, instant everything; i think about this in
> regards
> to our perception of time. the more instantaneous things are, the less
> we feel
> time. the more we live in a constant present. i think alt process (and
> wet
> darkroom work as well, and a lot of art, but i'm talking about alt
> process in
> particular) hints at or breaths life into this lost feeling of time
> that at
> least i have experienced. shrinking, sizing, coating, drying, testing,
> note
> taking; all of these processes have taught me time, or at least have
> done well
> to quell my need for instant results. and also when i'm making gum
> prints or
> cyanotypes, or simply shooting and excitedly awaiting my film to be
> finished
> processing, i feel a kind of history that resonates through these
> processes
> (this feeling is definitely historicist in a reactionary way, but i
> can't help
> it) and i feel connected to a past i didn't really experience, other
> than
> through this affinity of process.
>
> i'm also interested to hear concepts behind your work. and what you
> feel your
> chosen processes do for it beyond aesthetics. and what you take
> pictures of and
> why.
>
> i know this is a pretty weighted email, please forgive me, i keep
> quiet for a
> while and then explode.
>
> cheers,
>
> Steve
>
Received on Tue Mar 9 14:10:13 2004