No, Really

Blocked

I was, shall we say, entertained by this description of a photo-book in the photo-eye bookstore, which was recently highlighted in their newsletter:

Past Paper // Present Marks. Responding to Rauschenberg. Photographs by Jennifer Garza-Cuen & Odette England. Text by David Campany and Susan Bright.

Radius Books, Santa Fe, USA, 2021. In English. 160 pp., 70 duotone illustrations, 11".
Signed copies available!
Publisher's Description:
Photo-experiments in light and water with Robert Rauschenberg’s expired gelatin silver paper.
In 2018, photographers Jennifer Garza-Cuen (American, born 1972) and Odette England (Australian/British, born 1975) spent a week at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Residency in Captiva, Florida, collaborating on a series of nearly 200 photograms. The images were made in Rauschenberg’s swimming pool, using expired 1970s gelatin silver paper found in his darkroom. The two artists activated the paper by piercing or slashing the bags and envelopes using pens, scissors or knives; folding the silver paper at odd angles; or layering them inside the bags. Some sank to the bottom of the pool, while others floated on top or by the filtration units. Exposures were made overnight and throughout the day, allowing different levels and intensities of sunlight, moonlight and water to penetrate the paper. This large-format volume compiles their experiments.
Hardbound [Signed] $70.00

A book well worth seventy dollars of anybody's money, wouldn't you say? No? What kind of philistine are you? Oh, that kind. Yeah, me too.

Heh... Assuming the residency went out to tender, I'd really love to see the project proposal for this one. I'm tempted to write a version myself but, like so much in these Interesting Times of ours, the reality passes beyond the bounds of parody. I've read that summary a dozen times now, and it still makes me laugh.

Now, Robert Rauschenberg was a provocateur and something of a holy clown in his art, but these two seem to have been entirely straight-faced about their "experiments", although it's possible they were actually off their faces on something or other at the time – perhaps before they found the expired 1970s photo paper they found Rauschenberg's non-expired 1970s peyote stash – and had to do something face-saving with the resultant dripping-wet chaos. Hey, we've all been there.

But... Well, what more is there to say? Other than, "Artists, innit? FFS, LOL...". Although it's true that some of the actual photograms are intriguing, they are not in the same league as the more deliberate (and exquisitely beautiful) work of Susan Derges who uses similar "camera-less" methods (apart from the hilarious stabbing and slashing part, that is). So, if you were thinking of dropping that sort of money on a book, I'd recommend instead trying to find a copy of Elemental or perhaps Woman Thinking River, or indeed anything at all by Susan Derges. It's all wonderfully original work, not in any way a tribute or "response" to anyone else, and AFAIK any knives or scissors involved have been used in an entirely conventional way.

Lifting the veil

(moths all the way down)

[Obviously(?), but for the avoidance of doubt I should say that these two illustrations are neither from the book in question, nor by Susan Derges, but mine, from the same series of digital collages as used in this year's calendar]