talk is lies

"Talk is not my line. It gives me a stomach ache. When I've talked a lot, I know I've told a lot of lies, and what makes it worse, not even meaning to. When you're talking a lot you haven't time to get the words right. Talk is lies. The only satisfactory form of communication is a good picture. Neither true nor false. But created." Joyce Cary.  'The Horse's Mouth'.

swim

littleton, massachusetts. 12" x 16" C-type.

start

shot about a decade ago. finally printed (as originally imagined) today.

photographing paintings

35mm film. dirt. tranny scanned as found. no digital enhancement. 

heaven in a wildflower ...

if there's heaven in a wildflower, there can be galaxies and constellations on the surface of a slide.
this is the surface of 35mm film ('out west') which, to me, looks like the heavens or an aerial view of earth.

out west

35mm transparency, fungus, ink, debris.
scanned as is.

The Paris Review

I love 'The Paris Review' so was pleased to see my work illustrating
Kay Ryan's poem, 'Bitter Pill'. The poem, in full, is here.

proper motions

35mm film and found material (referring to movements (ascension and declination) for members of the Persei association.)

model. virginia.

10 x 8 inch gelatin silver print. single edition.

eyemazing spreads

from top : little fists, no, memory, wild is the wind, rust trees,  
custody version, swan 20, parallax,  murderer, glass eaters,  
womb.

eleven

'eleven' print in dark slide.  120 mm x 155 mm

eyemazing

over the years, eyemazing has featured so many photographers i admire; andres serrano, sarah moon, nan goldin, sally mann, francesca woodman, jock sturges, tichy, avedon, man ray .... the list goes on.
i was honoured to see my work on those beautifully designed and exquisitely printed pages today.

wreath

collection of flowers on barbed wire.  cross-processed 35mm.
protection and everlasting life ...

eyemazing fall issue 2012

EYEMAZING,  dedicated to international contemporary photography, winner of the Lucie Award for best photography magazine, is a gallery-on-paper.

"If you really want to know what is happening out there with contemporary art photography and to see some of the most cutting edge images currently being made, then you should subscribe to this publication .....You may also want to buy the back issues at the same time, while you still have the opportunity. They are sure to eventually be collectors items.” Alex Novak, photography dealer and owner/director of the Contemporary / Vintage Works, one of the largest US photography dealers.

little fists, unique edition.

unique edition. R-type print, wood, glass, metal.  185 mm x 110 mm.

trapeze (notes)

from september notebooks: thoughts around new print, 'trapeze'.

100 curators project

many thanks to brian curtin in bangkok for choosing 'little fists' for the saatchi 100 curators project.

magnox al 80

35mm film, technical film.

tension

'black-eyed beauty'. 35mm technical film.

the fugitive nature of happiness

haunting, evocative image from citizen kane
'the only time in his life when he was truly happy'

the uncertainty principle

a rediscovered out-take from one of my favourite book cover commissions.
x-process + b/w cine film.

the fugitive nature of places

This 12 x 16 print was exhibited and sold a while ago but the chemical processes I use on my negatives have aged it over the years.  Random events and reading Proust (by accident) led me to reprinting it, larger and slightly differently this time.

memory

although it's been published and exhibited both in australia and london, (and made the rounds on tumblr), 'memory' has never been sold. in october, though, i'll be producing a small edition of 12 12"x 12" prints for a specific project to be announced later.
today, i was pleased to see that stefanie braun, a curator for the photographer's gallery in london chose it for her '100 days' collection. thank you, stefanie. thank you also to rebecca wilson for including it in the telegraph selection.

four imagining being five

35mm expired film with mixed media.

saatchi 100 curators project

thank you to aaron schuman for selecting me for this: 100 Curators
article from Huffington Post

solid the spaces lean on

i have been wrestling with this for so long. it needs something. or something taken away.
mixed materials (hair, glass, metal, wood, paper, rescued objects) 16cm x 25cm

100 curators 100 days

my work has been selected for the 100 days 100 curators project recently featured in the new york times.
details to follow ...

dark slide

75mm x 120 mm. unique c-type.

aeroplanes

just random thoughts while waiting for prints to dry ...
100 x 150mm on cardboard

dedham

this has something to do with natalie merchant's 'motherland' but i'm not sure what.
C-type print in salvaged mount. approx 12cm x 15cm.

You are not a dinosaur

many thanks to YOU ARE NOT A DINOSAUR for this little feature ....

truthfulness

the most binding oath of childhood. a solemn assurance of truthfulness.
35mm film with mixed media.
edition of 5 in vintage 4" x 4" mounts. image size approx 2" x 2".

joy

my parents' one word wedding invitation. 35mm film and chemicals.

new scans

after all these years, i'm finally getting high quality scans of negatives and seeing much more detail, especially in the creeping deterioration of the film. i love seeing them decay naturally, like organic matter. most darken as the negative thins and fades. others change colour, some get lighter ...

why i love film

this print of jake, lost for a while and now found, is why i love film. the gashes in the surface, years of neglect and abuse etched into the emulsion. damp, heat, cold, debris, mould, chemical burn, sunlight, the scraping through hundreds of projectors, layers of grimy fingerprints, smeared clean and then soiled again. colours slowly deteriorating, corrupting over time.... it's all there.
digital technology can approximate all sorts of lovely things but it can't age organically or fade or decay as film does. it has no surface to punish. film is a filter for light and the surface of film is an ever-changing collection of dust and debris. i don't care that it fades and scratches. these things are signs of life.

wing damage

originally shot around 2001. first exhibited as a hazy, blue cropped version in 2007 in the 'camera suture' show at the whitecross gallery in london. now produced in full frame, complete with 10 years' more of deterioration, new marks and colours. one of my favourite images.

alovebigas (detail)

35mm negative. 16mm cine.  detail from larger print.

boy x (new print)

new version. small print from 35mm cine film.

fourteen. the last portrait.

new archival version of earlier (lost hastily scanned) experiment.
C-type print produced from 35mm film, rust, dirt, debris ...

leaf, her hair

small photogram-type print from leaf and hair.
"... their wings will be soft and they must climb somewhere safe to wait for their wings to harden before they can fly away..." from wiki article about the fleeting -- but intense -- life-cycle of the luna moth.

little object

2 inches x 2 inches. glass, metal, paper, leaf.

broken harpoon

small notebook picture. 35mm cine film.

art is an idea

         a meaty interview with the good people at ART IS AN IDEA

Envasarte

Thank you ENVASARTE