Postludes
Photographs surrounded
and suspended in Black Space
and suspended in Black Space
Introduction
The Postludes are visually related to the Thing-Centered Photographs (surrounded and suspended in black space) which were made in 2006, inspired by digital version of the Garage Series photographs which I had made in 1999-2000 as part of the Studies Project (1994-2000) which were miniature silver gelatin prints (3.5" square). When I made the digital versions of the Garage Series the inkjet prints were 18" square; the images were much smaller, surrounded and suspended in black space. I applied one rule to the series: there had to be a way the black of the space surrounding the object image or the rectangular image could enter into and merge with the black within the object or rectangle.
I made hundreds of Thing-Centered Photographs (surrounded in black space) and in the process of making the work itself shifted in multiple ways away from the more pure idea of the Thing-Centered photograph. Those images stayed in my collection of Thing-Centered Photographs for many years. However, in March 2022, as I was sorting through all of them I realized that many of the photographs needed to be sorted out and collected as a separate but related body of work. I named that work Postludes, a title the great composer Valentin Silvestrov used for some of his compositions.
(I have written about Silvestrov and his music in several photography projects. Please visit: Studies X and click here to visit: Symmetrical Snow Photographs : Homage to Alfred Stieglitz, Minor White, the Equivalent photograph, and composer Valentin Silvestrov)
The Postlude photographs are not really about things (that is to say, a thing's essential nature, its living, divine consciousness). Many of them tend to have an aura of meaning based perhaps in narrative, or transformation; they can be rather abstract or non-representation. I used many of them in my Visual Poems. In short they are product of the intuitive, inventive graceful spirit of my Creative Process. I allowed it full rein; anything goes so long as the image is visually interesting and generated in me a kind of meaning that transcended intellectual understanding.
The way the black works in the image is important; I always thought of the black as a form of light, in the same way the Silvestrov spoke of Silence in his musical compositions. The merging of the black of the surrounding border of the image with the black inside image has something to do with my idea of the Symbolic Photograph, an image radiant with grace which has merged or united or conjoined inner world imagery with its outer-world corresponding counterpart.
I have so many of these images I found it difficult to select but a few for this blog presentation. I wish you could shuffle through the box of prints yourself. The prints have a remarkable matte surface that gives the blacks a silky, silent depth and presence.
Postlude Photograph, Condensation on window, cup 18x18"inkjet print
Postlude Photograph, Venetian Blinds behind a storefront window 18x18"inkjet print
Postlude, Fulcrum with lines 18x18"inkjet print (negative image)
Postlude, Man, Child and Florescent Light 18x18"inkjet print
Postlude, Boy with bat and ball 18x18"inkjet print (negative image)
Postlude, Hand and Glass of Lemonade 18x18"inkjet print
Postlude, Nude bathing in the midnight sun 18x18"inkjet print
Postlude, Man climbing ladder 18x18"inkjet print (negative image)
Postlude, Swan and diamond
Postlude, Wood fence shadow red stripe
Postlude, The Hand 18x18"inkjet print
Postlude, Elephant 18x18"inkjet print
Postlude, Spray-painted electrical plates 18x18"inkjet print
Postlude, The Suspended Bicycle Rim 18x18"inkjet print
Postlude, Arm raised figure (out of focus) 18x18"inkjet print
Postlude, Tinsel 18x18"inkjet print
Postlude, Figure by tree 18x18"inkjet print
Postlude, Two hands over face 18x18"inkjet print
Postlude, Gloria, Moon, River 18x18"inkjet print
This project was announced on
my blog's Welcome Page
March 16, 2022
Welcome Page to The Departing Landscape website which includes the complete hyperlinked listing of my online photography projects dating back to the 1960's, my resume, contact information, and more.
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