‘Faults and Formula’ brings together a collection of damaged film photographs from western Pennsylvanian artists Prince Brooks and Adrian Weber. As photography secures its place on digital platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, the expectation to present a refined and mastered image undermines artistic experimentation.
As emerging photographers, Brooks and Weber place emphasis on the learning process in their practice by embracing mistakes through trial and error. Photographic accidents such as burns, light leaks, shutter failures, and flares alter the surface of their film. Instead of the beautiful, glossy, and perfected image usually privileged in the gallery, Brooks and Weber favor an unstable image, underscoring both materiality and exploration. Where the highly manicured space of social media curtails young artists’ room for failure, Weber and Brooks turn to unedited studies of material mishap.
‘Faults and Formula’ highlights the hazards of photography by calling attention to the volatile nature of film itself: it’s chemical delicacy and material sensitivity. By reframing mistakes as valuable artistic forms, this exhibit attempts to elevate what is normally rendered ‘valueless’ within the edifice of the gallery space.
ADRIAN WEBER
I photograph subjects of everyday life: a friend, an interesting building structure, a well lit landscape and even strangers. What I photograph attempts to replicate what I see, in particular, the mundane and melancholic as well as the grand and glorious. To make both the granular and the grand of equal importance is essential to my work.
My pictures focus on the gritty and/or physical aspects of everyday life, which is why I primarily use film format because it offers a textured and visceral visual quality. The timeless and recently revived medium of film promotes intentionality and patience in order to make a photograph. The volatile nature of film demands refined craftsmanship and skill in a way that pushes me as an artist. This ongoing exploration of film’s materiality drives my practice.
I want my work to translate the subjects and settings that I am fortunate enough to come across onto the most appropriate format. I view the naturalism in my photography as a way to honor the subjects I shoot. In order to do so, I take an object-oriented ontological approach to photography – respecting the life of the camera, the materiality of film, and the digitity of my subject.
PRINCE BROOKS
I am a photographer and videographer from Clarion, Pennsylvania. I work predominantly with analogue film using a Minolta SR-T 102, a Pentax 645, and the Omega View 45-D large format camera. My work is fueled by my interest in the re-discovery of film formats in the digital age.
The driving questions in my practice include: what format should film take, and what role should it assume? How do we negotiate the tension between the analogue and the digital? And finally, as an emerging artist, how do I find my own voice and develop my own style?
I am drawn to film photography because of the physicality it brings to the discipline. Film makes photography a three-dimensional and tangible medium which transforms it into an immersive process. This duality between the 2-dimentional image and the materiality of film itself motivates my practice.
As an emerging artist, I’m in the midst of a transition from being a student of photography who explors and experiments with the physical medium, into a mature artist by engaging with specialized subjects, developing my own voice, and refining my process.
LIGHT LEAK -
a light leak will occur when a hole or gap is present in the body of the camera where light is able to 'leak' into the typically light-tight chamber. As light floods into the body of the camera , it defuses across a particular region of the film creating the 'streaking' effect seen here in Weber's photograph.
Credits
'Faults and Formula' is organized and curated by Olivia Woodruff, master's student of 19th century European decorative arts and design at McGill University. This exhibition is presented in collaboration with Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Department of Art and Design.