Dust

Matthew Brandt

Gum bichromate prints with dust

USA 2013–ongoing

 

Image above: Matthew Brandt, 00036082-1, Mathers Department Store, Pasadena, 1971, gum bichromate print on paper with dust from AT&T building courtyard, 2013, 43.6 x 56.6 inches. Courtesy of Matthew Brandt.

 

“Matthew Brandt employs various historical photographic techniques which he then enhances in unusual ways. In his work, he concentrates on the printing process, i.e. the transfer of the photographic reproduction onto its final image carrier. In addition, he often uses real materials which are related in some way to the subject of the photo. For instance, for the series Dust, Matthew first made reproductions of archival photos showing buildings no longer in existence and then, when printing them on watercolor paper using gum bichromate, added dust collected from the buildings’ former locations to the printing ink as pigment. As a result, the idea that a photograph isn’t just a picture but actually contains traces of its subject is augmented with a material dimension. Moreover, since the presence of dust lends the vanished buildings a puzzling physical presence, Matthew Brandt’s photography forges complex links between different eras.” (Niemeyer 2016: 10)

 

Matthew Brandt, born 1982 in California, USA, lives and works in Los Angeles.

Matthew Brandt, Z-10 Omaha Grant Smelter 1, gum bichromate print with dust from Denver Coliseum's rear loading dock, 2018, 42 x 60 inches. Courtesy of Matthew Brandt.

Reference

Thomas Niemeyer, “Matthew Brandt,” in Sun on Paper – Art/Experiment/Photography, eds. Thomas Niemeyer and Andreas Krase (Nordhorn, Dresden: Städtische Galerie Nordhorn, Technische Sammlungen Dresden, 2016), p. 10.

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