A Review of the Use of Photo Mixed Media in the U.S.A.

Leonardo, Vol. 13, pp. 129-131. Pergamon Press 1980. Printed in Great Britain A REVIEW OF THE USE OF PHOTO MIXED MEDIA IN THE U.S.A. Shelly Farkas* and Henry P. Raleigh** 1. Already in the mid-1800s a controversy arose between those who made untouched photographs and those who manipulated the medium to add artistic characteristics. In ~he 189?s t.he. latter advocated adding painterly, mainly impressiomsuc approaches; the former believed the medium to be best suited to record reality. Later, the dadaists and surrealists made use of collages incorporating both types of photographs, and the practice was continued as late as the 1950s,particularly by those who were members of the German Subjective Fotographic Group. Realistic, painterly and collage approaches result in pictures without an illusion ofdepth. Dissatisfied with the limited scope presented by these approaches a number of artists widely scattered over the U.S.A. are currently bent on extending photography in diverse ways to include 3dimensional works. These artists, approximately called ph~t~ mixed media artists, tend to have had professional traim.ng and experience in painting and sculpture rather than m photography. However, identification of them as a group has been made possible by a number ofsignificant recent exhibitions in which distinct categories of technique are becoming evident. Among these exhibitions were the following: 'Persistence of Vision' at the George Eastman House (Rochester, NY) in 1967,an exhibition at the A.rt Galler~ of San Diego State College (San Diego, CA) m 1968, Photography into Sculpture' at the Museum of Modern Art (New York City, NY) in 1970 and 'Photo-Media' at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts (New York City, NY) in 1971-72. The information given below that indicates the character of the techniques was provided by 25 USAmerican photo mixed media artists in response to a questionnaire that we. had mll:iled to them. They supplied not only helpful information about the techniques employed but also lent us slides and photographs of examples of their works. At the end of this Note we provide a glossary of some of the technical terms used. 2. Photo mixed media works may be considered to fall into three. categories: machine reproductions, soft packaged objects and assemblages. Most of the artists surveyed make works of the three types. In the first category, machine reproductions, the use of three processes ischaracteristic: Kirlian photography, the ~-M process and the Color Xerox process. This category is the closest of the three to untouched photographs. The *Artist, Apt. 16, 104 West 3rd Street New York NY 10012 U.s.A. " , **Artistand teacher, Art Studio Department, State University College, New Paltz, NY 12561, U.S.A. (Received 26 May 1979) 129 difference lies in the method of image production (see glossary). Barbara Astman, a USAmerican artist living in Toronto , Canada, uses the Color Xerox process to alter progressively the background of an untouched color photograph. The resulting pictures are assembled and presented in a series of individual examples. Andre Haluska (Vermillion, South Dakota) employs the Color Xerox process with Kodalith prints. The resulting prints are combined with fabric, thread and found objects in his artworks. James Hutchinson (Agoura, California) employs the 3M process to pr~duce 'fantasy images'-accidentally, usually nonfigurativ~ shapes. Jayson Turner (Lexington, Kentucky) transfers images produced by the 3-M process to cl?th and colors the resulting print by hand. Kirlian photography has only recently received the attention of artists in the U.S.A. Catherine Janson (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) uses the method to record the electric charge fielddeposited on organic objects, such as leaves, h.uman hands, etc. The resulting images are photographically transferred to fabrics. She sometimes alters the images by hand-stitching, using colored threads. Reed Estabrook (Cedar Falls, Iowa) stitches with thread draws and paints on Polaroid photographic prints in order to alter the appearance of the images. Soft packaged objects share the style characteristics found in Pop art. Often they may be further characterized as h~ving the biomorphic forms that are frequently associated with the feminist art movement in the U.S.A. Kay Shuper (Los Angeles, California) constructs packaged . objects using photo linen, wire, fabric stuffing, Plexiglas and feathers...