Post by roqlarue on Oct 23, 2008 12:17:37 GMT -8
I wanted to pop up a little preview of a mini show I'm having in November in conjunction with Tessar Lo and Moira Hahn's incredible exhibit- by Canadian artist Bill Blair. I am crazy for these, and they are super affordable! They are digitally collaged, and entirely hand tinted. He only makes ONE of each image.
" I've been creating photomontage images since the mid-1980s. I differentiate photo-montage from photo-collage in that I try to compose the image, as much as possible, matching elements such as lighting-direction and perspective. My earliest images were constructed by printing out images in the darkroom, cutting the pieces out - and sanding the edges - before gluing down the final composition before photographing it. (The resulting print often appeared in photo-postcard form.)
My earliest influence was the tradition of the American tall-tale postcard - at its most popular at the beginning of the 20th century. These images depicted exaggerated scenarios of, for example, larger-than-life vegetables being harvested, or hunters stalking giant wildlife.
First visiting Oaxaca in the early 1990s, I was struck by the imagery of the Oaxaca School of artists. I could relate to the surreal elements of magical realism depicted in their work, where women fly and mysterious juxtapositions are the norm.
Much of my imagery fluctuates between themes of Canadiana and Mexicana - both real and imaginary. Both play off the idea of early-20th-century romantic travel ideals.
For the images in this series, I incorporate human subjects from my extensive collection of vintage Mexican real-photo postcards, mixing them - and other elements - with my own background images photographed from my travels in Mexico.
While I no longer cut-and-paste the images manually, I still apply the same steps while assembling the image in the computer; starting with the background image, and composing the other elements on top of it. I then print out the final image, photograph it with black-and-white film (and develop it in the darkroom). Then I print a single silver gelatin print (archivally processed) in the darkroom. This unique print is then hand-tinted with transparent photo oils, in the tradition of early photographers Hugo Brehme and Luis Marquez in Mexico, and Roberto Eichenberger in Guatemala."- Bill Blair
" I've been creating photomontage images since the mid-1980s. I differentiate photo-montage from photo-collage in that I try to compose the image, as much as possible, matching elements such as lighting-direction and perspective. My earliest images were constructed by printing out images in the darkroom, cutting the pieces out - and sanding the edges - before gluing down the final composition before photographing it. (The resulting print often appeared in photo-postcard form.)
My earliest influence was the tradition of the American tall-tale postcard - at its most popular at the beginning of the 20th century. These images depicted exaggerated scenarios of, for example, larger-than-life vegetables being harvested, or hunters stalking giant wildlife.
First visiting Oaxaca in the early 1990s, I was struck by the imagery of the Oaxaca School of artists. I could relate to the surreal elements of magical realism depicted in their work, where women fly and mysterious juxtapositions are the norm.
Much of my imagery fluctuates between themes of Canadiana and Mexicana - both real and imaginary. Both play off the idea of early-20th-century romantic travel ideals.
For the images in this series, I incorporate human subjects from my extensive collection of vintage Mexican real-photo postcards, mixing them - and other elements - with my own background images photographed from my travels in Mexico.
While I no longer cut-and-paste the images manually, I still apply the same steps while assembling the image in the computer; starting with the background image, and composing the other elements on top of it. I then print out the final image, photograph it with black-and-white film (and develop it in the darkroom). Then I print a single silver gelatin print (archivally processed) in the darkroom. This unique print is then hand-tinted with transparent photo oils, in the tradition of early photographers Hugo Brehme and Luis Marquez in Mexico, and Roberto Eichenberger in Guatemala."- Bill Blair