"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.
Detail
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Alfred Jarry (September 8, 1873 - November 1, 1907). 2016, m/m on canvas, 12"x12".
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Detail
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Amedeo Modigliani (July 12, 1884 - January 2, 1920). 2016, m/m on canvas, 12"x12".
A hint to Modigliani's identity is the name of Italian photographic film producer,
Fratelli Alinari.
Detail
Jean-Michel Basquiat (December 22, 1960 - August 12, 1988).
2016, m/m on canvas, 12"x12".
A hint is the "e" in "Kodachrome," written the way Basquiat wrote his graffiti.
Detail
Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (January 28, 1873 - August 3, 1954).
2016, m/m on canvas, 12"x12".
Hint is the blade of wheat, representing Le Blé en herbe (The Ripening Seed) by Colette, published in 1923.
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Detail
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David Robert Jones (January 8, 1947 - January 10, 2016).
2016, m/m on cardboard, 12"x12".
David Bowie's baby picture inspired this series. Listening to his "Starman" from 1972, and looking at the happier of the two images I found (detail shot, third picture from left, top row), I was struck by his smile when looking up.
I made four or five other works about these photographs.
Emile Zola (April 2, 1840 - September 29, 1902). 2016, m/m on canvas, 12"x12".
Hint is the typography in "J'A," which mirrors the headline in L'Aurore on Jan. 13, 1898, of Zola's famous letter, "J'Accuse...!" charging the French government with anti-Semitism for the jailing of Alfred Dreyfus.
Detail
James Joyce (February 2, 1882 - January 12, 1941). 2016, m/m on cardboard, 12"x12".
Hint is a quote from Ulysses (not shown in this detail).
Detail
James E. Brewton (November 4, 1930 - May 11, 1967). 2016, m/m on canvas, 12"x12".
Hint is the gidouille instead of an "e" at the end of the word "Kodachrome."
Jim is the 'pataphysical clinamen, the exception to the constraints
around the prize babies works.
For more about him, visit the James E. Brewton Foundation's website.
Detail
Johnny Allen (Jimi) Hendrix (November 27, 1942 - September 18, 1970).
2016, m/m on canvas, 12"x12". Hint is the use of a hazy purple color.
John Winston Lennon (October 9, 1940 - December 8, 1980).
2016, m/m on canvas, 12"x12".
Hint is Ilford film.
Marcel Proust (July 10, 1871 - November 18, 1922). 2016, m/m on canvas, 12"x12".
Hints: the fleur-de-lis (for his nationality, not his religion) and the Sakura film company.
Detail
Nancy Mitford (November 28, 1904 - June 30, 1973). 2016, m/m on cardboard, 9"x12".
Hint: the Criterion film brand.
Detail
Eunice Kathleen Waymon, better known as Nina Simone
(February 21, 1933 - April 21, 2003). 2016, m/m on canvas, 12"x12".
Hint is the photograph of Simone from the cover art on the compilation CD, "The Tomato Collection."
Richard Pryor (December 1, 1940 - December 10, 1905). 2016, m/m on canvas, 12"x12".
Sammy Davis, Jr. (December 8, 1925 - May 16, 1990). 2016, m/m on canvas, 12"x12".
In the full photograph I found, Davis is posed standing on a chair. His eyes appear to express horror (or fear). I wanted to include the photo in this series, but was made so uncomfortable by the whiteface-sort of weird makeup around young Davis's mouth that I retouched the image before duplicating it. I then called attention to the discomfort of the original image by adding the magnifying glass.
