Tyler A Deem, Ancestors, 2015. Mixed media and vandyke brown collage.
Ancestors: contact printing
Stumbling upon some aged family photographs, some dating back to the turn of the 20th century, I wanted to use my own family history in an artwork that speaks about me. I had been exploring the Vandyke Brown photographic process of which uses the sunlight to develop rich brown photographs, and allowed me complete control of the process at every step.
It is interesting to say that I had a deep connection the century old photographs of my very own ancestors, not just the images of people, but the actual paper and prints that I held. I wanted to communicate the sense of reflection on my own life and existence when I held these photographs.
With the tools of the digital age, I was able to scan these photographs, reprint them and use them in a collage. I can modify and transform these images, but I wanted to show this in my work. Before electronic technology, the human hand was the tool of choice, and being an artist and a photographer I have relied on the use of my hands when developing, cutting or editing my artwork.
I scanned my hands, digitizing the contact it makes with a surface. I felt as though, now, my hands can interact with the digital images on the screen. They become shadows of my touch, reaching beyond the screen into a form that will outlast my physical hands. Having a photograph of me and my ancestors in the same plane, I felt a connection.
Making a digital negative to print my hands back into the physical world, I noticed how much detail is lost in the digital translation. Using sunlight, I brought to life new hands before my very eyes as the Vandyke Brown print developed a new photograph outside, a contact print. The digital image becomes a physical image, and all done by the very hands it profiles.
Strangely cyclical, the artwork becomes just as much a digital work as a handmade and unique work. The two blend together into one image as I overlapped and folded, tucked and cut. I introduced other imagery. It was as if they hands in the collage were manifesting the image, not me. The fingertips delightfully rest on the faces of my predecessors.
The images begin to shudder into and out of view, like memories flashing back to a time you find indistinct. History and technology of different eras seem to blend into one existence, held by the rationalizing that time treats all things equally. In one hundred years these techniques of image-making will be antiquated, but still reverberate it's meaning.
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A note on Art Medium
The medium that an artist uses, that is, the substances that the art is made of, can tell a story or share an idea as well as the imagery it presents. It is important to take notice as to how somebody creates an artwork, because there is much to learn from it.
When people see my brown photographs, they often appreciate the soft tones of the paper and hue of the pigment. But when I explain the process involved in hand-making them, there is an appreciation that goes beyond the original impression.
The difficult issue for an artist is making the concept, or idea that the art is about (whether it be beauty, a social cause, reflecting emotion, etc), and the medium. A skilled artist can use the medium to further push the concept of the artwork, and I admire those who do it well.
Just because the photograph takes three hours to make and costs a small fortune to process (like the Daguerreotype process) does not mean that it is a notable work. Just because it uses digital means or is created on a computer doesn't detract from a work.
The medium can help describe the artwork, and in my opinion should be taken into account.
That said, by exploring mediums not yet used, or combining them in unique ways particular to the era, an artwork can say much more. We must not be distracted by what medium the artwork is so much as notice the technique of using that medium.