On Friday 1st April, Bob Kersey will be selling his exclusive Artist Proof prints at Blanco Negro to raise money for an exhibition in the US.
A fusion of the landscape and still life, Landshapes suggests the geometry of the natural world resolves to imply a metaphysical message, accessing a vision a step beyond the mundane.
They will be also be available for limited viewing on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd April. Help support an great artist by joining us for this special exhibition.
Artist Intention
As suggested in the title LANDSHAPES the work is, either specifically or loosely, a fusion of the landscape genre and still life. The intention in shaping such a fusion of ideas and form is to provide a creative vehicle to express current concerns and emotions along with a more penetrative view point. The use of smaller, more spontaneous cameras has allowed for the freedom to realise these aims.
As the title also suggests, the geometry of the natural world resolves to imply a metaphysical message and accesses a vision a step beyond the mundane. I feel it is right for me now to disdain objectivity and work from pure instinct. The photograph is about nothing except itself and whatever it may or may not be connected to… In a nutshell, no longer am I reporting the truth. Now I am making it up. A much more honest approach I feel.
Form of the picture
Beginning with image capture: as stated, small cameras have been used in order to “get through”. Small formats, unlike large format contact photographs of which detail is paramount, tend to combine with film grain to produce larger “brush strokes”. It is a simple choice between delicacy and presence. The abstractions implied in LANDSHAPES are best served by a more emphatic presence.
Formats used are 35mm, medium and 4×5. Films are Delta 100, FP4 and Tri X developed in XTOL and D76. This is the classic film “look” and is an integral part of the creative process.
Because the end product is a platinum palladium print, the next set of steps need to be planned to perfection.
The critical intermediate stage is the scanning of the negative and production of a digital file. There can be no alternative to this step. Modern day scanners and “editing” software is simply unbeatable. And there is no quality loss at all. However, the next stage, during which the enlarged platinum negative is made, needs to be considered carefully.
Having taken pains to produce a gorgeous FP4 in XTOL sky, I don’t wish to wash it all away. This would happen if I were to print out a digital negative off an ink jet printer. The pixilation would wash it clean. No amount of iron and platinum in the final print would protect it from that “homogenised” look. Why, therefore would you go to the trouble of using film in the first place?
No, it is necessary to get back to film immediately to maintain the film “look”. ADAA. The “D” is the best use and only use of the digital medium.
The file made then writes to a film recorder which produces an enlarged negative, corrected, spotted and balanced for the platinum palladium scale.
Approximately 9×13 inch image dimensions are printed onto 11×15 inch Revere Platinum cotton rag. The formulae, which is mainly palladium is carefully worked out for compatibility with both the Duraclear negative and the paper of choice. Using a special coating technique, each print is given 3 coats of sensitiser before exposure to ultraviolet light and developed in warm potassium oxalate before being cleared for archival longevity.
Exhibiting LANDSHAPES
The set contains 15 images approximately 9×13 inches Palladium on cotton rag.
Submission to Photo Independent, Hollywood LA, opening April 29 2016 has been successful.
I will be carrying with me an edition of 2 of each image, to be matted and framed in the USA,
Having made the edition for Photo Independent I have decided to release the single artist proof of each image at a substantially reduced price as means to assist in the financing of this project.
Each print designated AP is perfect, mistake free, blemish free. It is simply the print I arrived at in order to serve as a template for the edition. It contains only the natural variations typically seen in any hand made process. The prices for the Photo Independent exhibition will be listed as US$. Prices for the sale of artist proofs will be approximately half the US prices however in A$.
I am hoping that by releasing the work here in Australia at Blanco Negro I am equally serving the local collecting community and also myself, so that I may benefit from the opportunity to exhibit LANDSHAPES in the USA.
Bob Kersey
Bob Kersey is an Australian filmmaker, publisher, photographer and artist. Kersey produces images in platinum palladium; images that are distributed Australia wide and worldwide. Since re-emerging as a photographer in the early nineties, having spent the previous three decades in motion picture production, Bob Kersey has produced an archive of photographs covering many genres.
Always at the forefront of innovation, he is currently developing the Light Path method of making enlarged negatives for historic process printing.
Bob Kersey is publisher and editor of Australian Photography and Gallery Compendium and Photo Compendium Australia. Kersey is director of Black Mountain Photographic Workshops and Black Mountain Platinum Atelier.
Her lives with wife and partner, Mary Meyer, in the Great Dividing Range. With the kangaroos.
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