roger kockaerts: mars 2008

jeudi 13 mars 2008

OPIUM FIELDS

about the concept:
The dual nature of the opiates is expressed by their ability to relieve pain and suffering on the one side and the fact that they are capable of plunging long-term users into the hopelessness of addiction without return. Opium is at once a remedy and a poison.Opium fields exist in open culture in India and Turkey and in hidden plantations of the Asian Golden Crescent of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan and the Golden Triangle formed by Burma, Laos and Thailand.
The cycle of the life-saving and life-destroying papaver somniferum, between the romantic flowering and the brutal human interventions by incision of the bulb to liberate the precious substance - shows a very limited time span where the opium field seems suspended in an unreal atmosphere of calm and tranquility.

This rare moment, coupled to the existing dualities concerning opium plants, the paradoxal qualities of the photographic medium itself and the typical golden hues of the adopted photographic technique have the power to create a new surrealistic world of veiled mystery, surrounding the existence of opium fields.

A series of 13 Orotypes, 25x40cm mounted on 56x76cm Arches Platine paper of 320g as original examples of the concept was created during the summer of 2006. These examples will eventually be executed in larger dimensions. Orotypes can be executed in dimensions ranging from 4x5" to 105x120cm.

DETOURNEMENT: a narrative conceptual project

A collection of "found" historical glass plates from anonymous authors, rejected by their original creators or owners because of their state of degradation is recycled by printing the plates on a high quality paper by the platinum-palladium process.
The aim of the artistic concept is to divert the objects in question from their original sense and, combined with a sophisticated representation, to give these a new existence as an art object.

The glass plates with different dimensions, sometimes cracked or broken, are severely damaged by deterioration phenomena as excessive humidity and heat or various mechanical or chemical deteriorations of unknown nature.
In spite of their state which excludes a real restoration intervention the plates remain nevertheless important photographic conservation-restoration study objects.The recorded images are principally anonymous persons or groups of anonymous persons and hereby permit to dissociate the depicted subjects and their representation in the final print.The chosen printing medium, the platinum-palladium process being known as one of the most prestigious processes in the history of photography, thanks to its tonal richness and exemplary stability, is diametrically opposed to the advanced state of destruction of the plates which, in turn, permits to obtain a relation which differs completely with the original context of the elements in question and deriving all its sense in the new context.In fact one could affirm that in its artistic concept, the detournement which we perform is, in final analysis, not far removed from a sublimated restoration of the imagery of the rejected plates.december 2005

What is an orotype?

The orotype, an alternative process derived from the historic "orotone" has been experimented by Roger Kockaerts around 1968.
Today this process integrates perfectly into the contemporary movement of alternative photography processes. In this optic Roger Kockaerts applies the orotype process to a series of landscapes of opium fields where the gold tone creates a surrealistic mood.
The orotype uses a chemically inert polyester film with a silver-gelatin emulsion instead of the traditional photographic glass plate. The positive image is treated with standard archival techniques. The gold tone is realized with a gilding medium containing bronze powder.

Platinum and palladium prints

The platinotype process which is based on the use of platinum salts instead of silver salts was introduced around 1880. It is one of the most stable photographic processes of the history of the medium; a platinum image, well-made and well-handled, should last thousands of years; the only limitation is the quality of the paper it is printed on.
It was extensively used by masters as: Alvin Langdon Coburn, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Paul Strand, Edward Weston, Frederick Evans and more recently by Irving Penn.
The movement of alternative photography has contributed to reintroduce contemporary versions of historic processes as the platinum and palladium processes into the art world.
The platinum-palladium process has following characteristics:
- contact process (negative of equivalent dimensions as the final print);
- manual sensitizing on high quality paper
- UV rich light source (sun, mercury lamp, sunlamp) for exposure;
- choice of developing-out process or printing-out-process
- details in the highlights without blocked shadows

roger kockaerts

OPIUM FIELDS - OROTYPES

jeudi 13 mars 2008

DETOURNEMENT: a narrative conceptual project

detournement - platinum-palladium prints

Roger Kockaerts

What is an orotype?

platinum-palladium

Platinum and palladium prints

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