Digital Frontiers: Photography's Future at Nash Editions
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Transcript of Digital Frontiers: Photography's Future at Nash Editions
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Abave: Oliuia Parker {Americarl, b. t94t). B)WL, t9g6. Digital ink jet print.Coufiesy ofthe photographer and Nash Editiins.
Cover: Joyce Neimanas (American, l. ,Sq+). RE.RODUCE, t9g6. Digital ink jet print.Coufiesy ofthe photographer and Nash Editions.
This exhibition was organized by Ceorge Eastman House and originally exhibited there from April z5 to octo:.-:M aior s upPort was provided by Rochester Institute of Technology's School of photographic Arts a n o -. : : - _:
Tennis Corporation ofAmerica, Bruce Bennett Photography, Chromagen, lnc., M&T Bank, and euesi-; l:-::.:GeorgeEastmsnHouseissupportedwithpublicfundsfromtheNewYorkSrakcouncil
ontheArts,astateagency; thelnstjtt:.:.,.,..::..:the Nationa{ Endowment for the Arts; the County of Monroe; and with private contributions Jrom i'ndiviatuals, ,"rrrrr.-, . ,
O r998 Ceorge Eastman House. produced by the publications depa,:r:-.
eorge Eastman House dedicated r998 to exhibi-
tions that addressed cultural, aesthetic, and tech-
nical issues currently confronting or espoused
by contemporary photography and its practition-
ers. The first of these exhibitions, Digital Frontiers:
Photography's Future at Nash Editions surveys
the expanding realm of digital arts through ink jet
prints produced at Nash Editions, a fine-art print
studio Iocated in Manhattan Beach, California.
Founded in r99r by musician-photographer
Craham Nash and colleague Mac Holbert, Nash
Editions was the first studio to specialize exclu-
sively in digital fine-art printmaking. lt quickly
became a haven fer photographers exploring
d i gita I tech nolo gy-com puters, d i gita I software,
scanners, and printers-and the ways in which
this techno ogy was inscribing a new aesthetic
trajectory for photography and printmaking.
Well-versed in photography and its history as both
photographer and ccllector, Craham Nash came
to the photograph,c oossibilities of digital fine-art
prints when the technology was still experimental,
the software and printer as yet unavailable. Enter
the lris printer, an ink jet printer long used in com-
mercial printing to preview an image before it
reached the production press. This printer, and
the subsequent development of software to trans-
late an image into digital language the lris printer
could read, not only served as the foundation for
the establishment of Nash Editions, but as a revo-
lutionary force in advancing a future for photogra-
phy closely aligned with the new frontiers of digital
printmaking.
Since its origins, photography has been inter-
twined with printmaking, not merely because both
are media of multiple reproduction, but more
importantly because they are cultural systems of
mass communication and information. lndeed,
the visual information that permeates our lives
through newspapers, magazines, advertisements,
and the like are produced by photo-mechanical
processes, a union ofphotography and printing.
While this union primarily has had a commercial
or informational function, photographers in the
r97os began to view photo-mechanical processes,
such as screenprinting and offset lithography,
as possessing great potential as fine-art media.
For them, these processes meant the creation
of art in keeping with its time, resonant with a
similarly cultural mediating and persuasive power.
Graham Nash (American, b. England, t94z). WALL PAINr/NC, NYC, tg9t. Digital ink jet prinlCourtesy ofthe photographer and Nash Editions.
Today, an analogous sensibility impacis the digital
arts. The dominance of digital technology in mass
culture, and its inextricable ties to photography
and printing, represents a dynamic vehicle for
artistic statements. lt also denotes a further level-
ing of a hierarchy of techniques that distinguished
the reproduction processes of mass media from
traditional photography and printmaking. ln ever
greater measure, the arbitrary lines once separat-
ing photography {rom other art media are blurred,
as are the lines separating art from life.
Although only seven years young, ink jet prints
have aggressively moved into the forefront of the
digital arts. Digital printing's popularity is marked
by a proliferation of fine-art print studios, an intro-
duction into academic curricula and museum
archives, and the establishment of professional
pu bl ications and or ganization s, i ncludi n g the
lnternational Association of Fine Art Digital
Printmakers organized in ry97. Accompanying
these advancements are new printing standards
and practices to ensure the stability and future
of the medium. But it is a future, due to its rapid
groMh, that is still emerging and redefining
itsel{with every innovation and application.
The photographers featured in Digital Frontiers
are not only among the first to experiment with
ink jet printin gi many were among the first genera-
tion of photographers who, in the r97os, took up
reproduction technologies or subject matter born
of mass media. Their attentiveness to the "new"
is on one hand a way to continue extending the
boundaries of traditional photographic and print-
making practices, while on the other hand an
attempt to integrate wider cultural issues and
themes into art phoiography. Their approaches,
like the subjects they explore, are diverse. They
range from the appropriation of imagery from
mass media to the seamless montage of found
or invented pictures, from reworking pre-existing
photographs and negatives to experimenting
with computer manipulations of pictorial form
and perspective. Taken as a whole, these artists
and their work point to photography's versatility
in engaging advanced forms of picture-making
and its ability to constantly reinvest itself for a
digital future that is as inevitable as it is unknown.
Therese Mulligan, Curator of Photography
Ceorge Eastman House
lnternational Museum of Photography and Film
Rochester, New York
Darryl Curran (American, b. tglS).TROPHY, FOUR HORSES, POTEMKIN, t994.
Digitat inkjet print. Courtesy ofthe photographer and Nash Editions.
David Hockney (British, b. ryj7). SECOND DETAIL. S/VA/L SPACE MARCH z5TH t995. Digital ink jet print.Courtesy ofthe photographer and Nash Editions.
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Pedro Meyer (Mexican, b. Spain, ryj5). EXPLOSION OF CREE/V CHAIRS, TUXIACO, OAXACA, t99t/t9g7. Digital ink jet print.Courlesy ofthe photographer and Nash Editions.
Mafiina Lopez (American, b. tg1z). REVOLUTIONS lN TIME, #t, t994. Digital ink jet print.Courtesy ofthe photographer and Nash Editions,
All prints in this exhibition are digital ink,iet prints, popularly known as lris prints after the trade name
ofthe ink jet printer. They appear courtesy ofthe photographers and Nash Editions.
Peter AlexanderAmerican (b. rg:S)
BUNDY1994
WESTWOOD1994
Eileen Cowin
American (b.tg+l)
LAN DM IN ES
1993
YEARNINC FOR PERFECTION
1997
. . . INTO THE NICHT1997
Eileen Cowin
in collaboration withLouise Erdrich
NICHT COWN1995
Robert CummingAmerican (b. tS+l)
SUBMARINE1977 11997
DRUC STORE
1g77 llgg7
Darryl Curran
American (b. rS;i)
TROPHY, FOUR HORSES,
POTEM KI N
1994
RED RIBBON, WORN BLADE,
KIMONO1995
BETHLEH EM
1g96
Joe Deal
American (b.tg+l)
U NTITLED1996
Carol Flax
American (b. r95z)
MEMORIES #r199511997
MEMORIES #z1gg5l1997
THREE SISTERS
199511997
Robert HeineckenAmerican (b. r93r)
SHIVA, KINC OF
DANCERS MANIFESTINCAS A TRANSVESTITE
tggzlt998
David Hockney
British (b. r937)
SECOND DETAIL.
SNAIL SPACE
MARCH z5TH t995r 995
':a:::
The curator wishes to thank Ceorge Eastman House's Amelia Hugill-Fontanel, curatorial assistant, Becky Dalpe,
curatorial intern, and Nrrh Editions' curator Chris Pan for their contributions to this exhibition.
THE STUDIOMARCH zSTH t9951 995
Les Krims
American (b. rg+i)
STILTED
1995From series:
The Decline of the Lefi
Martina Lopez
American (b. r96z)
REVOLUTIONSIN TIME, #r1994
Danny Lyon
American {b. t94z)
CHICACO, r965
PHOTO MONTACE, r996
ADIRONDACK CRAVEYARD
PHOTO MONTACE, r996
Pedro Meyer
Mexican (b. Spain, r935)
DAY OF THE DEAD,
PAPANTTA, VERACRUZ
t98glt997
EXPLOSION OF CREEN
CHAI R5, TLAXIACO, OAXACAt99t 1t997
Graham Nash
American(b. England, r94z)
SELF PORTRAIT, PLAZA
t974lt99z
WALL PAINTINC, NYC
r99t
Joyce NeimanasAmerican (b.tg+q)
DEAR DIARY
1 995
REPRODUCE
1g96
LICKS
1g96
SECON DS
1g96
Esther Parada
American (b. r938)
A THOUSAND CENTURIES1gg2
A THOUSAND CENTURIES
Artist's proof, no. i1997
A THOUSAND CENTURIESArtist's proo{, no. 41997
Olivia Parker
American (b. r94r)
CUP & SAUCER
1996
PITCH ER
1996
BOWL
1995
PLATTER
1996
Esther Parada (American, b. tgjS). ATHOUSAND CENIUR/E tggz. Digital ink jet print.
Courtesy ofthe photographer and Nash Editions.