"Artistic coloured photographs of prize babies." --James Joyce.
Prize babies works in the all those words series
Inspired by the line from James Joyce's Ulysses, I began creating faux antique photographs and was struck by how interesting it is to return the gaze of children born long ago. It's also poignant. Those children, staring confidently or uncomfortably or angrily at the camera, posed or costumed by adults: what are they thinking? Did they have any inkling of their fate? Would they be famous, artistic, brave? Would they die tragically young? Would their lives be hard?
In the pre-digital age, photographic images carried more finality; they couldn't be easily manipulated. Gone are printed contact or proof sheets from rolls of film, as are the plastic film canisters, so useful for storing small amounts of mixed paint.
I began looking for old photographs of young people who later became artists, writers, singers and performers. So much of our characters can already be observed, even when we're babies.
In these re-created contact sheets, I painted the black borders around each image, adding appropriate film-company names (that is, the company's film would have been available when and where the photograph was taken). The numbers are the children's birth and death dates, and hints as to their identities are worked into the compositions. Sometimes I snuck a second image of the sitter into the contact sheet.
In the pre-digital age, photographic images carried more finality; they couldn't be easily manipulated. Gone are printed contact or proof sheets from rolls of film, as are the plastic film canisters, so useful for storing small amounts of mixed paint.
I began looking for old photographs of young people who later became artists, writers, singers and performers. So much of our characters can already be observed, even when we're babies.
In these re-created contact sheets, I painted the black borders around each image, adding appropriate film-company names (that is, the company's film would have been available when and where the photograph was taken). The numbers are the children's birth and death dates, and hints as to their identities are worked into the compositions. Sometimes I snuck a second image of the sitter into the contact sheet.
The constraints are:
1. The subject must be an artist, writer, singer or performer.
2. They must be dead.
3. The photograph must be from youth.
4. They must be posed, uncomfortable or hyper-aware of the camera.
5. They must be world-famous.
6. They must have touched me personally.
7. They must have been born before I was.
8. There is one clinamen ('pataphysical exception).
Below are some of the works, with the sitters' identities revealed.
1. The subject must be an artist, writer, singer or performer.
2. They must be dead.
3. The photograph must be from youth.
4. They must be posed, uncomfortable or hyper-aware of the camera.
5. They must be world-famous.
6. They must have touched me personally.
7. They must have been born before I was.
8. There is one clinamen ('pataphysical exception).
Below are some of the works, with the sitters' identities revealed.