Unexpected Art

Laurie says:

I’ve been wanting to have beautiful 8.5 by 11″ prints of my work that really satisfied me for quite a while. On Epson 2200 printer I was able to make made beautiful 13 by 19″ archival digital prints that I was very happy with. Only a few of my images were completely satisfying in 8.5 by 11″. Serendipitously (although that was not my initial reaction) my 2200 printer expired, forcing me to get the new 2880 printer.

I can make prints on the new printer in the 8.5 by 11″ size that I’m absolutely delighted with. For the last few months, I’ve been working with my friend Ctein, who is a truly remarkable digital printer, on reinterpreting and remaking my work on the new Epson printer. So far I’ve done groups of prints from Women of Japan and Women En Large:Images of Fat Nudes. I’ll be working on the images fromFamiliar Men:A Book of Nudes prints soon. I’ve had two motives for this. One had been the art and the other is making accessible work. These prints are $50. My darkroom prints in this size are $500.

nude of Edna sitting on rocks

Some unexpected things have happened on the way. I’m working in Photoshop on the prints, but I checked one of them in Preview and made an interesting discovery.

nude of Edna sitting on rocks line drawing

The human (artist’s) eye goes from the sketch to the photograph. Preview, which has been ‘told’ by its programmers what is important to the human eye, goes from the photograph to the sketch. The result is a line drawing that abstracts my composition in some of the photographs in a way that creates a different art. This is quite selective. It only works aesthetically in some of the images, but when it does I have new and unexpected art.

It’s also giving me some new insights in the way I compose my images. In this image of Chupoo in the doorway, the line drawing has a different sensibility but one I think still expresses her.

chupoo in a doorway

chupoo in a doorway line drawing