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Email PageNoble Processes, in a Digital Age
May 3, 2006- August 19, 2006
John Stevenson Gallery
338 W 23rd St Linda Broadfoot Nemoptera coa (Grecian Streamertail) |  Beth Moon Portraits of Time: The Great Western Red Cedars of Gelli Aun |  Brigitte Carnochan Single Gardenia |
In the history of photography, this is an unprecedented time. Not just for the recently eye-popping high prices of certain things. But more profoundly, for the sudden obsolescence of silver gelatin printing, eclipsed by digital imaging. All the major manufacturing companies are ceasing production of silver papers, and that will be followed by the disappearance of film. Henceforth, for silver prints the photographer will have to rely on small specialty shops (such as one in England that still makes albumen paper), or else figure out how to make it from scratch, like platinum.
Since all processes in photography are now “alternative processes,” that category no longer has any meaning.
The division now is between hand-made, and machine-made.
Or, thinking of the noble metals, platinum, gold, silver; if we may coin a phrase: Noble Processes, in a Digital Age.
Ours was the first gallery to specialize in the fine rare processes of photography, vintage and contemporary. We look not only for exceptional creativity in the camera, but beyond the camera as well.
From the birth of photography to the present day, there have been exceptional artists who believe that every step is a creative act. Their best works are utterly magical. That is what we search for, what we know, and what we love. If we were a book store, we would not be Barnes & Noble (—there is nothing wrong with being Barnes & Noble; we shop there too). Rather, we would be the letterpress book store; all about handset type, fine fragrant papers, handmade bindings.
In our 15 years, we have cultivated by far the largest and richest collection of hand-crafted media of any gallery in the world. The present exhibition celebrates that with an unusually diverse presentation of newly-created works from our artists, including Linda Broadfoot, Lana Caplan, Brigitte Carnochan, David Croland, Cy DeCosse, Joy Goldkind, Claudia Kunin, Koichiro Kurita, Michal Macku, Beth Moon, Michael O’Neill, Hugh Shurley, Sarah Van Keuren, John Yang, and Zoë Zimmerman.
Their “cabinet of wonders” includes tintypes, gum dichromate pigments, platinum prints, collages in gelatin silver, collages on metal, gold-toned printing out papers, albumen prints, bromoil transfers, Polaroid transfers, handpainted photographs, and — wouldn’t you know — two examples of digital elements creatively used within handcrafted processes.
And by the way, all of these works are affordable.
No other gallery can do this for you, although others surely will begin. We raise our hats, meanwhile, to one of the great museum photography collections, the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, Austin, for its current exhibition The Image Wrought: Historic Photographic Approaches in the Digital Age, showing old and new expressions of historic processes, side by side, that “reassert the hand of the artist to photography.” It is about the hand, and the heart and soul. And now in photography that has never been more clear.
The digital age can give you access to selections from our exhibition on our website, or contact us for a free catalogue on CD.
But nothing can duplicate the original work, and we hope you can visit us. We plan to extend this very special exhibition, with additional artists, through the summer as well.
Books and DVDs related to artists in this show
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John Stevenson Gallery was last updated: 2008-10-12
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