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<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nInstallation view with Kristin Diemer’s Transformation<\/em> series, 2017, each silver gelatin, mordancage unique print, ed. 1\/1, 22 x 19 inches (R)<\/p>\n\n\n\n None of\nthe many photographs on display could be called functional, namely\nstraightforward recordings of the environment or events. Rather the emphasis is\non photographic methods, especially on printing processes, as well as digital\nmanipulation of imagery. For example, Peckham places seaweed on light sensitive\npaper, which is then exposed to sunlight. The UV light reacts with the base-chemicals\nin the paper, fixing them. Then a chemical wash is applied to the paper which produces\nvarious colours in the print, while washing away the base-chemicals that lay under\nthe seaweed unexposed and therefore unfixed. The results are beautiful ghostly\nimages. This process is known as lumen printing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Senga Peckham, Tidal Wash #6, 2018, giclee print of unfixed lumen, ed. 1\/2, 10 x 8 inches<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another\nprinting technique used by several artists is cyanotype. A mixture of chemicals\nis brushed onto the surface of paper or fabric. Then either a negative or some\nopaque objects, e.g., flowers, are placed on the now light-sensistive surface.\nThe paper turns blue in the uncovered areas when it is subsequently exposed to\nsunlight. The print is finally washed in water to fix it. All the artists\nselected either use some such printing technique or manipulate photographic\nimages using digital software. In the latter case, for example, Folberg \u2013 a former\nstudent of Ansel Adams \u2013 digitally inserts an image of the night celestial sky\nbehind a standard landscape, which enables the viewer to see the scene as if\n\u2018standing at the edge of an infinite universe\u2019, as Rojas-Pick puts it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Neil Folberg, Rosette Nebula, 2001, archival pigment print on Baryta Paper, ed. 3\/49, 19 x 20 inches <\/p>\n\n\n\n The one\nthing, therefore, that unites this otherwise diverse group of artists is their\npreoccupation with the processes of making an image using photographic\ntechnologies, both old and new. Their practices all stand in the grey area that\nintersects photography and painting, where \u2018painting\u2019 is used very broadly here\nto refer to any technique of image making that involves the direct intervention\nof the artist, rather than involving an automated mechanical process. Each of\nthese artists\u2019 practices use a combination of painting and photography in this\nsense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Installation view with Jennifer Crane, View From My Window (Home and away<\/em>), 2019, both palladium print, ed. 1\/3 (L) & Osheen Harruthoonyan, Hand 2009, toned silver gelatin print, ed. of 5, 32 x 27 inches (R) <\/p>\n\n\n\n As Susan Sontag notes, in her essay Photographic Evangel,<\/em> there is a tension in the idea of photography being shown in a gallery, i.e., as art. Traditionally the role of the photographer, as Sontag explains, is \u2018recessive in much of serious picture-taking and virtually irrelevant in all the ordinary uses\u2019. The photographer \u2013 understood as someone who uses photographic technology to make images \u2013 is not an auteur <\/em>in the same way as a painter is. The photographer\u2019s mark is more anonymous. What the artists in this show are doing effectively is to push back against the notion that photography-based art is not creative in the way that painting is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sandra C. Davis, Continental Lion, 2019, cyanotype on printed cotton, ed. 2\/8, 16 x 16 inches<\/p>\n\n\n\n At times some of these artists are painting with the light and chemistry of photography. For example, Davis and Hutchins (based in Philadelphia and Maine respectively) use a technique known as gum bichromate printing. This process involves combining a gum with standard paint, e.g., gouache, and a light sensitive chemical fixative. Using one colour at a time they then expose the paper, with a negative image on top, to sunlight. The exposed areas are fixed, retaining the chosen colour. Davis does this four to six times for each print, while Hutchins does this technique over cyanotype prints. The results in both cases are beautiful subtlely coloured prints, which merit being called paintings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jeannie Hutchins, Sisters (Blue Series<\/em>), 2018, gum bichromate over cyanotype, ed. 1\/5, 17 x 22 inches <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is interesting to note that the subjects of nearly all the photographs in the show are secondary. That\u2019s to say, they are primarily concerned with formal qualities rather than content. In this sense they are for the most part abstract or quasi-abstract works. This helps to explain their dream-like quality on which Rojas-Pick focuses. There is in all of them a sense of mood over narrative. They are, one might say, studies in the aesthetic possibilities of the techniques. It would be intriguing to see such experimental techniques applied to more narrative works. At any rate, this is a fabulous collection of photographic works, artfully curated and arranged. It is well worth going to see. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hugh\nAlcock<\/p>\n\n\n\n Images\nare courtesy of Lonsdale Gallery<\/p>\n\n\n\n *Exhibition information: Awaken After a Long Dream<\/a>, <\/em>October 15 \u2013 December 15, 2020, Lonsdale Gallery 2nd floor, 410 Spadina Rd, Toronto. Gallery hours: Tue \u2013 Sat 10am \u2013 5pm or by appointment <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Hugh Alcock<\/strong><\/p>\n The curator, Simone Rojas-Pick, likens the experience of emerging from the pandemic’s lockdown to that of having recently woken up from a long dream, after which everything is perceived afresh.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n