IMAGES FROM BEYOND THE MINDS EYE

In a time when photography is accelerating at an exciting rate, I feel it is essential to be open to innovative ways through which photography can be presented as a fine art. By creating something that visually possesses painterly qualities, I strive to harbor elements that are unique to the photographic process.

The Chrome Allusion process gives me the ability to express the motivations instilled upon me by the works of Lefson, Miro, Picaso, Pollock and Dekooning to name a few but also to exhibit vibrant, and unusual color and image quality that is indigenous to the Chrome Allusion process. Without the use of paint or the photographing of painted materials, I create all of my images on 35mm transparencies.

The transparency consists of several layers of color dyes that cooperate in the formation of the chrome image. By removing these dyes, I can alter the color range, contrast and saturation of each transparency. This being the foundation of the process leads to other techniques that enable me to indulge in a different language of artistic expression.

Chrome Allusion suggests a fresh approach to harmony in that it appeals through color, form, rhythm and void to the sixth sense we all possess yet seldom utilize. The void is the spiritual emptiness in our beings that demands to be filled. I liken it to the eye of a tornado. The exterior of the tornado moves all in its path with great force and chaos. The eye, on the other hand is where all controlling force subsides and all is at peace. Its exterior has no control over the eye yet the very nature and fabric of the tornado is dependent on its influence. The same is true with the void in our beings. We are conscious of its presence but we have no control over its influence. Yet, we can experience through this void the spiritual connection of all things and assimilate this into our daily lives, and in the process we begin to fill this space.

I like to challenge the viewer's psyche through presenting the unknown. I combine the animate with the inanimate because we are inseparable from our environment and the energies that impact upon us. I use several unrelated images to create one harmonious Chrome Allusion which is a unique in form. Each work is made with no preconceived notion as to what the final image will become. 35mm transparencies are manipulated in every conceivable way to produce spontaneous textures, colors and forms. Using chemicals I can alter consecutively the color layers of the transparency on an entire or localized region. Other means like etching and burning also aid the creative effect. I try to bring forth new forms of nature as opposed to recording nature like orthodox photography. My nudes, for example, may subtly transform into what appears to be a wall of peeling paint, or fungi may emanate from the surface of a woman's body.