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Indepth Arts News:
"Tears of Rage: Cyanonegative and New Antiquarian Photography, John Beaver curated by Teresa Saska"
2004-07-05 until 2004-07-31
Ohio Art League
Columbus, OH,
USA United States of America
The Ohio Art League is pleased to present Tears of Rage:
Cyanonegative and New Antiquarian Photography, John Beaver curated by Teresa
Saska, in their July Member Curated Exhibition. The exhibition will be on view July 3 - 31. John Beaver writes:
"I have always been fascinated by the beyond-the-snapshot possibilities of
photography. For much of my photography I use a unique process that combines
cyanotype – one of the oldest of photographic processes - with homemade
cameras and modern digital scanning and printing. "
Beaver continues, "Traditionally, cyanotype
has been used only for making contact prints from large-format negatives.
With the advent of modern digital scanning and printing technology, I
discovered that it is now possible to use this process directly in the
camera, as the negative "film" itself. Since normal camera lenses block the
kind of light cyanotype responds to, I have to make my own cameras for what
I call Cyanonegative Photography. The paper negative image that results is
then scanned and digitally reversed and printed. Color reversal turns the
strident Prussian Blue of the cyanotype original to amber and sepia tones. I
am especially drawn to the painterly qualities of this photographic process,
to the odd combination of the new and the antiquarian, and to the
magnification of tiny, non-photographic details. It appeals to my inner
nerdy-child-peering-at-pond-scum-through-a-microscope."
Review of John Beaver’s cyanonegative photography
by Diana Ludwig
"The mood of the works is almost entirely one of hints. We peer through the
veil Beaver has swept over his world, wondering. And we have to cling to the
center, the only stable ground; here there is focus -- we’ve only this
tunnel-like vision to work with. Leave it and move outward toward the edges
and all dissolves under our feet. The intriguing graininess draws the eye
in. It’s a texture to relish and savor…giving room to dream and speculate,
play in, float away in. Worry about. Yes, worry, for there’s Being Here,
there’s memory, nostalgia, mystery, intrigue, sadness, loss,
fading-away-ness, intransigency…. fuzz of vision and blurriness of heart.
So one worries: Is this the only record of this bit of life? Is this all we
have? What the heck was it about? What went on… and the sinking feeling
that we’ll never exactly find out…"
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