Chris Dahlquist

I have been writ­ing a lot this week.

Since I wrote to you last week about the lessons learned in my booth, I have writ­ten a pro­posal for a pub­lic art project, a response to my nom­i­na­tion to be included in the Kansas City Col­lec­tion, re-worked a pre­sen­ta­tion about my work and given it, and writ­ten a new artist state­ment. So right now there is a paint brush in the other room that des­per­ately needs my atten­tion, and I really need to go make stuff! (besides I think I have run out of words, ie. visual artist!)  So here’s some of what I wrote:

Pre­sen­ta­tion slide of Edward Cur­tis orotones

New Artist Statement!

I approach 21^st cen­tury pho­tog­ra­phy with the sen­si­bil­ity and aes­thetic of a 19^th cen­tury pho­tog­ra­pher. By employ­ing the best char­ac­ter­is­tics of both eras, I cre­ate anachro­nis­tic images of “in-between” spaces. Just as the ear­li­est pho­tog­ra­phers, the prac­ti­tion­ers of daguerreo­type and tintype, I treat metal plates by hand, prepar­ing each to receive its own unique pho­to­graph. I cap­i­tal­ize on the smooth sur­face of steel, a finely tex­tured under paint­ing, and the translu­cent qual­i­ties of dig­i­tal pig­ments to cre­ate each lumi­nous piece. My images are metaphors for the “in-between” places in our lives. The ones where we must be mind­ful to appre­ci­ate the sub­tle beauty and rich­ness that qui­etly resides there.

Pre­sen­ta­tion slide of image transformation

From a Proposal:

…My pho­tographs stand in sharp oppo­si­tion to the relent­less inun­da­tion of visual imagery in our daily life, which is used in the ser­vice of deliv­er­ing a sales mes­sage, an adver­tise­ment, a call for con­sump­tion, and con­se­quently a call for speed and action. I use the same deliv­ery method, pho­tog­ra­phy, but to coun­ter­act and con­vey the oppo­site mes­sage: slow down, enjoy the sub­tle beauty that is lost by trav­el­ing too fast. Notice and con­sider where you are and the impact of your actions…

join the conversation